Back To The Future
by Hunter's Crescent Moon
Summary: Sequel to A New Recruit. 3 months have passed since the events in A New Recruit, once Ember receives word of weird things happening on FutureGate in the year 2110, she goes back to help her friend, Caleb.
1. Chapter 1

**Hello!**

**So here it is, the first chapter of the sequal to A New Recruit! I know the title isn't all that original, but it was the best that I could come up with, so please forgive me for being so unoriginal.**

**Anyway, onto the chapter.**

**Chapter 1: Invitation.**

3 months after the events on FutureGate in the year 2110, Ember Tennant was sitting in her bedroom, watching a message that had been sent to her by Caleb.

"All in all, things are going pretty well here." Caleb was saying. "I still miss having you around though, things just aren't the same. Anyway, this is Caleb, signing off."

Ember smiled to herself when the message stopped playing. In the 3 months that she'd been back in 2010, She and Caleb got in touch with each other as often as they could through the temporal link that Cybele had helped Caleb set up when he needed recruits from 2010 to help him defeat Neuros. In the end, Ember had been the one to have helped Caleb defeat Neuros and Arkon, the Roboid who had lead the Roboidz back to Earth after their revolt on humanity.

Ember remembered everything that had happened that week on FutureGate as if it had happened yesterday. She thought about it a lot, thinking about what she'd found out about her future, thinking about the two missions she'd been part of, thinking about Caleb and how the experience had changed her as a person. She felt that because of the experiences on FutureGate, she had gotten stronger. She could deal with serious setbacks more easily and her experiences had driven her to trying to learn every single trick there was when it came to computers and hacking. It had even driven her to learn everything she could about robotics. Not because she wanted part in building robots, because she didn't want to have any part in that sort of stuff if she could help it, but so she could pass on her knowledge to her son so he'd have a chance against the Roboidz. Ember didn't regret leaving FutureGate, but she did miss being in 2110, having said that however, she didn't miss the dangers that FutureGate contained, but she did miss being around her grandson, Caleb.

Ember hooked up her webcam and started up the program that would record her video message and send it onto Caleb. It had taken her a month to figure out how to be able to send messages back to Caleb through the temporal link, but when she'd finally done it, she'd been ecstatic, which had shown in her message as she got one back saying that she should mind her blood pressure.

Just as Ember was about to start recording a message, the door of her bedroom opened and she glanced up to find that it was Rutger. She smiled as he closed the door behind him. In the 3 months that Ember had been back in 2010, she and Rutger had gotten close, really close.

"Hey." Rutger smiled as he walked up to Ember.

"Heya stranger." Ember smiled back as Rutger leaned down to her.

She leaned up and the two of them exchanged a brief kiss before Rutger straightened up a little.

In the first week that Ember had gotten back from 2110, Rutger's father had decided to move his family from the Netherlands to the UK for a job opportunity; this decision had ended with Rutger joining Ember's class. From the moment that Ember had seen Rutger, she knew that this was going to be the man who she would be marrying, but not because of love at first sight. She knew this because of a message from her older self that she'd seen while she was on FutureGate. Over the last 3 months, she and Rutger had ended up getting really close until they had ended up starting a relationship after confessing their feelings for each other.

"Couldn't stay away could you?" Ember teased.

"Of course not." Rutger replied. "What are you doing?"

"Oh, I was just going to record a message for a friend." Ember shrugged, closing her laptop. "It can wait."

To tell the truth, Ember didn't want to wait with the message but she didn't want Rutger to find out who the message was for. In all that time, Ember made sure that she didn't tell anyone about 2110 and she was going to make sure that it stayed that way.

"So, what are we going to do tonight?" Ember asked.

"My mother invited you to dinner tonight." Rutger said.

"What?" Ember asked, looking up at Rutger. "Dinner at your place?"

"Yes." Rutger nodded.

"You really think that's a good idea?" Ember asked. "I mean..."

"Ember, it's been 3 months right?" Rutger asked. "Don't you think it's time you meet my parents? I met your mom, right?"

"But that's different." Ember said. "My mum doesn't mind me having a relationship with a boy from a different 'class'..."

"Please?" Rutger asked, giving Ember the puppy eyes. "My mother is organizing a stupid dinner party for my dad's boss; if I have to sit there alone I'm going to die."

"Alright." Ember sighed before smiling. "I'll come with you."

"Thank you." Rutger grinned before pressing a kiss to Ember's cheek. "But you're going to have to wear a dress or at least a skirt."

"Excuse me?" Ember asked, raising an eyebrow. "That was not part of the deal!"

"My mum wants my dad's boss to think that we're... what did she call it, so... sopisi..." Rutger started, struggling to find the word

"Sophisticated." Ember corrected. "Is it too late for me to back out of this?"

"Please Ember?" Rutger asked, giving Ember the puppy eyes again.

"Alright." Ember sighed. "Just this once I'll make an exception."

"Thanks Ember." Rutger said as she got to her feet.

"The next time you're on your own though." Ember teased.

Ember walked out of her bedroom and went into her mother's bedroom so she could borrow a dress. Ember hated wearing dresses with a passion, so she didn't own any of her own. After picking out a simple black dress, Ember got changed and found that the dress was slightly too big for her, but it would have to do. After Ember had finished putting her hair up and put on as little make-up as she could, she walked back into her bedroom to find that Rutger had gotten comfortable on her bed.

"How do I look?" Ember asked.

She smiled when Rutger didn't reply and wolf whistled instead.

"Wow." Rutger said as he got to his feet. "You look absolutely beautiful."

"Thank you." Ember smiled shyly as she walked over to her desk and sat down.

She reached over for her jewellery box and was about to grab her wolf necklace from it when she realized that she'd given it to Caleb. She didn't regret that decision at all, but she had been so used to wearing it, that she still kept reaching into the slot where she used to keep that necklace.

"Something wrong?" Rutger asked as he came up behind Ember.

"No, nothing." Ember lied as she reached for her silver necklace with a ruby hanging from it. "Help me put this on?"

Rutger took the necklace from Ember and fastened it around her neck.

"What's this?" Rutger asked.

Ember looked up at him to find that Rutger was looking at her right arm. She glanced down at the burn that was on her elbow and for a moment she was caught up in the memories of how she got it. She quickly shook of the thought and smiled at Rutger instead.

"I burnt myself on a frying pan." Ember lied, giving Rutger a smile. "It's nothing, so shall we?"

"Yes, let's." Rutger nodded.

The two of them walked downstairs and after letting Bryce know where Ember was going to be during the evening, seeing as she wasn't allowed out of the house without letting someone know where she was because of her 'kidnapping', Ember followed Rutger outside to his car.

The drive to Rutger's house didn't take more than ten minutes. Rutger lived in a mansion at the edge of town, Ember hadn't found out about this until she'd been driving Rutger home from their 4th date. When they got there, Rutger walked around the car and pulled Ember's door open like a proper gentleman.

"You know, you don't have to go through any extra effort to impress me." Ember remarked, smiling.

"Blame my father." Rutger winked. "He insists on me behaving this way. If you ask me, my father still lives in the dark ages. Don't tell him I said that though."

"My lips will be sealed." Ember smiled.

Ember followed Rutger up to the front door and he was just about to open it when the door opened on its own, revealing Rutger's parents on the other side of it.

"Oh, hello mum, dad." Rutger said. "Ember, these are my parents, Michael and Lilith Lansing. Mum, dad, this is Ember Tennant, my girlfriend."

"It's a pleasure to meet you, Mr and Mrs. Lansing." Ember smiled politely.

"Please, call me Lilith." Mrs. Lansing said. "Come in, our guests should be arriving soon. Rutger, why don't you go get ready?"

Rutger just nodded silently before smiling at Ember as the two of them stepped into the house. Ember watched as Rutger ran up the stairs before she started to feel awkward. It was clear that Rutger's parents were from a society that Ember wasn't used to at all, she'd rather curl up on couch in front of the TV with a take away than go to dinner parties. Still, Ember figured that if she was going to get married to Rutger, she would have to get used to it, although she dreaded the moment that she and Rutger had to tell his parents that Ember was pregnant. Something told her that Mr. And Mrs. Lansing weren't going to take too kindly to that little happening.

"Here, let me take your coat." Mr. Lansing said.

"Thank you." Ember said as he helped her take it off.

If Ember had to be honest about this whole thing, she was already starting to hate it. She hated the way Rutger's parents were treating her already, something told her that she was going to get into a lot of fights with Rutger's parents in the future.

"So, Rutger told us a lot about you." Mrs. Lansing said as she led Ember into the living room. "But his description of you doesn't do you justice at all."

Ember just smiled politely, she knew she was that she wasn't something special at all, she was just an plain student at the local school so that gave her the feeling that Mrs. Lansing was just being polite and knew nothing about Ember at all. Whether this was the case or not, it was already getting really annoying.

"Oh, thank you." Ember smiled politely.

"Is there anything I can get you to drink?" Mrs. Lansing asked.

"Tea please." Ember smiled.

Ember watched as Mrs. Lansing disappeared through a door in the living room which she suspected lead to the kitchen or something. As Ember looked around the room, she was almost afraid to sit down. Everything just looked so perfect in the whole room, as if it had come straight from a movie based on a Jane Austin book. In the end, Ember stat down on one of the two couches as Mr. Lansing came into the room. Ember had to suppress a sigh at the fake smile that Mr. Lansing was wearing on his face. She could already see the conversation that Mr. Lansing wanted to have with Rutger once Ember had gone home; it was probably going to be all about how Ember was the wrong girl for Rutger.

"So, Ember, where did you and my son meet?" Mr. Lansing asked.

Ember had to stop herself from smirking a little. It looked like her suspicions were right, Rutger hadn't told his parents a lot about her at all, not that she could blame him, otherwise Mr. Lansing wouldn't have asked that question.

"We met at school." Ember replied. "We're in the same class."

"Ah, that dreadful public school." Mr. Lansing said. "I would have Rutger go to a private school but those are hard to find in this area."

As Mr. Lansing said this, Ember started to dislike the man more and more. In her opinion, there was nothing wrong with a public school. Who was Mr. Lansing to say that public schools were dreadful? All he knew were private schools.

"So tell me, what does your father do?" Mr. Lansing continued.

"My father's dead." Ember replied without showing any emotion over it.

She couldn't help but feel a little satisfied when Mr. Lansing looked a little shocked at that statement. Before Mr. Lansing could ask anything else about Ember's father, Mrs. Lansing came back into the room with a large serving tray. The tray one had one cup and saucer on it along with a sugar bowl.

"There we are." Mrs. Lansing said as she put the tray down in front of Ember.

"Thank you, Mrs. Lansing." Ember said politely.

"Please, call me Lilith." Mrs. Lansing smiled.

For a few moments Ember debated whether to tell Mrs. Lansing where her name came from but she decided against it, although secretly Ember thought that the name Lilith, who had been the first demon to be created according to the bible, was really fitting for Mrs. Lansing and her fake behaviour. The longer that Ember spent time in the house, the more uncomfortable she was starting to feel. Just as Ember was about to run from the room screaming, Rutger came walking into the living room and Ember had to admit that he was looking really, really good in a suit.

"Hey." Ember smiled as Rutger sat down beside her.

She couldn't describe what a big relieve it was that Rutger was now in the room, it took away a lot of the pressure that she felt while she was alone with Rutger's parents.

"Well, the Gants should be here any moment." Mr. Lansing remarked. "Remember to be polite, Rutger, there's a big business opportunity here."

"Yes father." Rutger nodded.

Ember stared at Mr. Lansing for a moment, wondering if she had heard right. Had he really just said Gant? She didn't have the time to dwell on that thought seeing that the doorbell rang and Mrs. Lansing ushered them all out into the hall to meet the guests.

"Mum and dad didn't give you too much trouble, did they?" Rutger whispered to Ember as the two of them followed some distance behind Mr. and Mrs. Lansing.

"Only if you count your father asking about what kind of job my father as trouble." Ember whispered back. "So no, no trouble."

"Sorry about that." Rutger grimaced.

"It's okay." Ember smiled. "We'll talk later, alright?"

Rutger nodded as they reached the front door. Ember watched as Mrs. Lansing looked around one more time, probably to see whether everyone was ready before opening the door. When the door opened, Ember had to suppress a sigh when she saw what kind of people had come over for dinner; she could already see that it were the same 'class' of people that Mr. And Mrs. Lansing belonged too.

"John, good to see you." Mr. Lansing said reaching out to shake 'John's hand.

"You too, Michael." 'John' replied. "This is my family. My wife Sally and my daughter Laura."

Ember felt her eyes widening as she looked down at Laura. Laura looked to be able 8 or 9 years old, but there was no mistaking it. Ember was looking at little Laura Gant, Caleb's mother.

"This is my family." Michael said. "My wife Lilith and my son Rutger with his girlfriend, Amber."

"Ember." Ember corrected.

No-one reacted to this and Ember had to suppress the urge to sigh and roll her eyes. She already knew that the evening was going to be pure and utter hell.

**So that's it for the first chapter. **

**I hope I did a good job on making it interesting. As always let me know what you think:)**

**Unfortunately I can't give a time frame of when the next chapter is going to be posted, but I'll do so ASAP.**

**~ Abby**


	2. Chapter 2

**Here we are then, chapter 2.**

**I'm so sorry about the time it took to get this up, school has been really hectic lately, especially with the load of revision I've got to. Anyway, thanks for the reviews:)**

**Hope you enjoy it.**

**Chapter 2: Anomalies.**

Ember hadn't been wrong when she'd thought that dinner was going to be hell, in fact, it was worse than hell. Mr. Lansing and Mr. Gant talked about nothing else other than business while Mrs. Lansing and Mrs. Gant talked about nothing else than what kind of education 'proper' children should have. This left Rutger and Ember trying to entertain Laura, who was looking beyond boredom. Rutger put all his effort into trying to get Laura to cheer up while Ember just kept thinking how weird it was that the little girl that was sitting opposite her was actually going to be her daughter in law at some point.

"So, Amber..." Mr. Gant started.

"Ember." Ember corrected.

"My apologies." Mr. Gant nodded. "Ember, tell me, what does your father do?"

"My father's dead." Ember replied plainly.

The table fell silent and Ember tried not to start laughing out loud at the faces that everyone was pulling.

"Is your daddy an angel?" Laura asked, being the first to break the silence.

"Laura!" Mrs. Gant scolded.

"It's alright, Mrs. Gant." Ember replied before turning to Laura. "Yes, my daddy's angel. But it's okay, because I know that every time I look up at the stars at night, my daddy is watching me."

"Really?" Laura asked.

"Yes." Ember smiled.

"How did your father die, Ember?" Mrs Lansing asked.

"I'd rather not talk about that, Mrs. Lansing." Ember replied before casting a meaningful look at Laura.

She didn't think that talking about her dead father was something they should talk about with a child at the table. Ember glanced up when she felt a hand on her leg and she saw that it Rutger was giving her a worried look.

"I'm okay." Ember whispered, smiling a little.

The remainder of the evening the conversations steered clear of Ember. She didn't mind though, in fact she was glad of it. At the end of the evening, Ember had to wait until the Gants had left until Rutger could take her home.

"Thank you for inviting me, Mr. And Mrs. Lansing." Ember said as she put on her coat.

"You're welcome, Ember." Mr. Lansing said.

"Please come again." Mrs. Lansing smiled.

Ember shuddered a little when she saw how fake the smile was.

"Come on, I'll take you home." Rutger said, leading Ember out of the house.

The two of them walked over to the car and Ember sighed in relief when Rutger pulled out of the grounds of the mansion.

"Are dinner parties at your house always this awful?" Ember asked, kicking of her heels as her feet were starting to hurt.

"Pretty much." Rutger sighed. "Sorry for making you go through all that."

"It's alright." Ember shrugged. "It was a new experience... not saying it's a good one, but it was a new experience all the same. That Laura girl was nice though, although she looked really bored."

"I know how she feels." Rutger remarked. "Being dragged everywhere for business dinners and stuff and all that."

"I wouldn't want to be in her shoes if I were honest." Ember remarked. "It must be so boring, I wonder if she's even allowed to be a normal girl."

"Probably not." Rutger replied. "When I was that age, I wasn't even allowed play like a normal child with my friends."

"Terrible." Ember shook her head. "It should be illegal to treat children like that."

"Tell me about it." Rutger agreed. "I'm sorry Ember, I should've told my dad that your dad's dead."

"Don't worry about it." Ember smiled, reaching over and patting Rutger's leg. "Just don't make me go through that again."

"I promise." Rutger smirked as he stopped in front of Ember's house. "And I'll make it up to you for tonight."

"That's okay." Ember laughed. "Just make sure you've got sick bags at hand the next time I'm at your place. No offence, but if your mum acts as fake as she did tonight again, I might just throw up."

"You've got a deal." Rutger laughed.

Ember smiled as she leaned over and kissed Rutger before picking up her shoes.

"I'll see you tomorrow, alright?" Rutger asked.

"Sure." Ember smiled. "Only this time, let's curl up with a pizza in front of the telly instead of a fancy dinner party?"

"You've got yourself a deal." Rutger laughed. "Just make sure your brother's not home."

Ember laughed as she remembered the first time they tried to curl up in front of the TV with a pizza, Bryce had ended up joining them and ruined what was supposed to be a quiet night with just the two of them.

"Deal." Ember smiled before kissing Rutger again. "Love you."

"Love you too." Rutger replied.

The two of them exchanged one last kiss before Ember got out of the car. She watched as Rutger pulled away from the street before she walked up to the front door and unlocked it. She stepped into the hall to find that Bryce was already waiting for her.

"Alright?" Bryce asked when Ember stepped into the house. "Took you long enough."

"Shut up." Ember rolled her eyes.

"Had fun?" Bryce asked.

"No, not at all." Ember replied. "I wish I could say that Rutger's parents are really nice, but they're just arrogant bloody annoying people who think just because they've got money they rule the world. Thank god Rutger's normal."

"I feel so sorry for you." Bryce remarked although he clearly didn't mean it.

"You're unbelievable." Ember shook her head. "By the way, tomorrow night, living room off limits to you."

"Why? Going to make out with your boyfriend?" Bryce grinned before putting on a girly voice. "Oh Rutger, I love you so much!"

Ember glared at Bryce before tossing one of her heels at him. Bryce ducked into the living room and the heel hit the wall. Ember shook her head as she picked the shoe up of the ground before going up to her bedroom to change.

After she had changed into some ultra comfy clothes, Ember let her hair down and washed the makeup of her face. After she was done, she walked into her bedroom and sat down behind her laptop to be able to record a message for Caleb. After checking that everything was working as it should, Ember turned on her webcam and hit record.

"Hey Caleb, things are going well here in 2010. You'll never guess who I just met tonight. It was Laura, little 8 or 9 year old Laura Gant, your mother. It was kind of freaky to meet her and her parents, especially knowing what I know about the future. But it was interesting too. Now I've got a kind of sense of what kind of people Laura's parents were like and to tell you the truth, they're the kind of people that I'd rather avoid. Not because they're evil or something, but because they're just not likable at all." Ember said. "You know I've been thinking about 2110 a lot in the last week or so, and the truth is, I miss being on FutureGate. I kind of miss having to dodge Roboidz and Shades and stuff. Well, not literally, but just the excitement of all of it. I don't know if it's possible, but I'd love to come back to FutureGate sometime. Normal live here is pretty much drop dead boring compared to 2110. Oh, I almost forgot! I managed to track down the last of the recruits! I finally got all of them tracked down and gathered on one online community! You know, it's kind of weird to have met them but it's also cool to hear about all the different experiences that they've had. I've decided to name us the community I've united the recruits under 'The Kettle-Head Busters' so no-one but us recruits know the meaning of it. I haven't told the recruits yet that I'm still in contact with you but I will soon enough, so I'll probably have some messages from the recruits for you soon. Anyway, it's getting pretty late so I think that's it from me for now. You probably know what I'm going to say next, but I'm going to say it anyway. Be careful and take care of yourself. Oh and if there's anything you want to tell the recruits, let me know. Goodnight, Caleb."

With that, Ember stopped the recording and typed in a few commands to send the message on its way. Once Ember was sure that the message had been send, she logged of her laptop.

The following morning, Ember got out of bed and the first thing she did was turn on her laptop before going to take a shower. When Ember was done and had walked back into her room, she sat down behind her laptop and smiled when she saw there was a message waiting for her from Caleb. She clicked play and even before Caleb started speaking, she could tell that he was really excited.

"You met my mother? What was she like?" Caleb asked, bouncing with excitement. "Please, tell me everything! I'll bet she's great! Did you talk to her?"

Ember smiled a little at Caleb's excitement, she couldn't blame him for it. If she was in his position, she would've been excited too. Although her smile faded when she saw that Caleb was turning serious again, usually when that happened, it wasn't a good thing at all.

"Ember, it's not a good idea for you to come back to FutureGate at this point." Caleb said seriously. "Something is going on here. I don't know what it is, but it's something bad. As far as I know, it's not the Roboidz. It's something sinister though."

Ember watched as the image started to get distorted for a few moments before it completely cut out.

"What the..." Ember muttered. "This isn't supposed to happen..."

Ember called up the command program and started to try to recall the remainder of the message, but after an hour of trying every trick in the book, she found that the remainder of the message had been erased by something. She could see that it wasn't Caleb who had erased the remainder of the message and the file wasn't corrupted during transmission, so something must've gone wrong just before the transmission. Ember turned on her webcam again and sighed deeply as she hit record.

"Caleb, I think you were right about something sinister going on." Ember said. "Half of your message has gone missing. I don't know whether something went wrong with your equipment or not, but it's creeping me out. Can you please get back to me whether it was your equipment or not? If not something really weird is going on your end. If something sinister is going on, then be extra careful; don't do anything rash without consulting Cybele first. I might be exaggerating, but all of this doesn't sit well with me at all. Please, if you doubt whether you should do something, don't do it, consult Cybele first. Be extra careful and take care of yourself Caleb."

Ember stopped recording the message and after checking that everything was there, she sent the message on its way. The way that the message from Caleb had cut out didn't sit well with Ember at all. It reminded her of the moment that Neuros had hacked into the computer she'd built. Thinking back on it, Ember knew it was exactly the same and it wasn't sitting will with her at all. It was just too creepy a coincidence for Ember to feel comfortable. Knowing that she probably wouldn't get a reply until either that evening or late afternoon, Ember decided to do some work on the KHB community. Seeing it was Sunday, Ember didn't have anything else to do other than working on the website for the KHB.

By the time that late afternoon rolled around, Ember got a signal that Caleb had sent a message back. She immediately clicked it and put on her headphones.

"I don't get it." Caleb said as the message started to play. "Everything is fine on this end. Are you sure nothing weird's going on with your equipment? Your message got distorted halfway through too. It's almost like something is stopping us from communicating. Something doesn't want us talking. I don't know about you, but that is kind of freaky. I think it's best if you come back to..."

"Bugger!" Ember yelled as the video started to get staticy again before stopping completely.

Ember had to agree with Caleb, something really weird was going on and she doubted that it was a coincidence that the transmission cut out in the exact middle. There had to be something else going on, there was no other explanation for it.

"Alright, let's try something else." Ember muttered.

The way Ember saw it, if it was possible to get video messages across, it should be easier to get text messages across so that was what Ember decided to try.

'Caleb.

I agree with you, I get the feeling that something doesn't want us talking to each other too. I've got a really bad feeling about all of this. If there is something going on and something doesn't want us talking to each other, I WANT to find out who or what this thing is. Before the video got too distorted to view, you said 'I think it's best if you come back to...' what did you mean by this? If you mean you want to get me back to FutureGate, I'm all for it. Whatever this thing is, I don't feel comfortable with you going up against it on your own. I'd be more than happy to help you out with this, but I need a few days to be able to prepare to come to FutureGate, the way it happened last time, it just brought a whole lot of trouble along with it. Be careful Caleb. Love Ember.'

When Ember had finished typing the letter, she sent it to Caleb and hoped that this time the whole message would come across. If Caleb did wanted Ember to come back to FutureGate, she figured she'd better start making the preparations. She knew that Rutger and his family were going to take a trip in a week's time so she decided to persuade Rutger into helping her out with the lie she was going to make up. The basic gist of it was going to be that Ember would tell her family that she would go with Rutger and his family on this trip, but in reality she would go back to FutureGate.

**Right, so that's it for chapter 2.**

**If all goes well, I have Thursday off from revision, so I'll be posting chapter 3 then.**

**Oh, and keep an eye on the forums, I've decided to take a leaf out of Loki's book and create my characters with the Sims 2.**** I'll probably start posting them this afternoon or tonight, and I'm going to start out with the characters from A New Recruit.**

**So, that's it from me for now:) hope you enjoyed chapter 2 and let me know what you think.**

**~ Abby**


	3. Chapter 3

**Hiya:D **

**Here's chapter 3.  
>hope you enjoy it!:P<strong>

**Chapter 3: Back to the Future.**

A week later, all the preparations had been made for Ember's departure back to FutureGate. Rutger had asked questions about why she had to use his family's trip as a cover story and after some skilful lying on Ember's part, Rutger had agreed to helping her out. So at the end of the week, Ember had packed the things she would be taking with her to FutureGate and the things she would give to Rutger to hide in his bedroom so Ember's mother wouldn't get suspicious.

"Alright, you be careful." Melissa said as she hugged her daughter. "And have fun okay?"

"I will." Ember replied as she hugged her mother back. "I'm always careful."

"Yeah right." Bryce scoffed before grinning.

"Shut up." Ember rolled her eyes before hugging her brother.

"Remember to wear a condom, alright?" Bryce grinned.

"Oh my god, I can't believe you just said that." Ember said, feeling her becoming bright red. "On that note, I'm getting the hell out of here."

Ember picked up her bags and walked down the path before heading towards Rutger's house. When she got to the play area, she glanced at her watch and saw that she had 15 minutes before Caleb would activate the time portal. The last thing she wanted was for anyone to see her being transported, so she hoped that Rutger would hurry up.

5 minutes later, Rutger's car stopped close to the play field and Ember walked over to him, carrying the bag that wouldn't be coming with her to FutureGate.

"Hey." Ember said as she reached Rutger. "Thanks for helping me out."

"You're welcome." Rutger said as he took the bag from Ember. "So this guy you're meeting, when will he show up?"

"In 10 minutes or so." Ember replied.

"Ember, you are going to be careful, won't you?" Rutger asked as he put the bag into the backseat.

"Yes, it'll be perfectly safe." Ember lied. "Don't worry about me, okay? You have fun on your trip."

"It would be better if you came with me." Rutger sighed.

"I know, but I promised my friend I'd help him." Ember replied. "This is a promise I can't break, Rutger, I already told you. And it's going to be perfectly safe, so don't worry about me."

"I do worry about you, Ember." Rutger replied. "You always have this distant look in your eyes as if... how do you say... as if you'd rather be somewhere else than here."

"Rutger, there's nowhere else I'd rather be than here with you." Ember replied putting her hands on his chest. "I swear. This is just something I promised a friend to do and I always keep my promises. You should get going before your parents start freaking out about missing your flight."

"Promise you'll be here when I get back?" Rutger asked.

"I'll be waiting for you at the front gates." Ember smiled. "Now go, I'll be fine."

Ember watched as Rutger reached out before kissing her. After kissing him back for a few moments, Ember pulled away and gave Rutger a light push over to the door of his car.

"Go." She smiled. "Or you'll be late."

"If I didn't know better, I'd say you want me out of here." Rutger smirked.

"I just don't want you to miss your flight." Ember smiled. "So go."

After one last kiss, Rutger got into his car and Ember watched him drive off. She glanced down at her watch and saw that she had 2 minutes to get into position, so she ran back to where she'd left her backpack and picked it up of the ground before slinging it onto her back.

2 minutes later, Ember closed her eyes when she saw that she was being surrounded by green lightening and she knew what that meant. The time portal had been activated.

A few moments later, she felt her feet leaving the ground and just a split second later, they hit the ground again so hard that Ember ended up falling over. The moment that Ember opened her eyes after falling to the ground, she smiled when she saw that she was on FutureGate.

"Where's a TARDIS when you need one?" Ember sighed as she climbed to her feet.

She picked up her backpack from the ground and slung it over her back before looking around. she didn't know where she was, it wasn't a part of FutureGate that she recognized so she just started to walk in a random direction and hoped that she'd end up somewhere close to the lair or the command post.

"Caleb?" Ember called after a half hour of walking around. "Can you hear me? Caleb!"

Ember rounded a corner and gasped as she came face to face with a Roboid. For a moment she felt the urge to run before remembering that the Roboidz had been beaten 3 months earlier.

"Bloody hell..." Ember whispered to herself as she walked around the Roboid.

She checked the back of it to find that the Roboid still had its Bio-Rod which leads her to believe that Caleb hadn't been to that part of FutureGate yet. Ember pushed the first door she came across open and she shuddered when she saw that she was in the experimenting deck.

"Okay, this isn't somewhere where I wanted to end up." Ember muttered.

She shuddered a little as she turned back the way she came, now that she had an orientation point, she would be able to find her way back to the lair. 10 minutes later, Ember walked into the lair and she looked around to find that nothing had changed at all. Other than maybe a lot of Bio-Rods being scattered around the room. Clearly Caleb had been busy in the 3 months that she was gone. Ember dropped her backpack by the door before walking out of the lair again and heading towards the command deck. As she walked down the route she rounded the corner only to walk into someone.

"Oi, watch it!" Ember exclaimed as this person grabbed hold of her.

"Ember?" Caleb asked.

Ember looked up to find that she had actually walked into Caleb and as soon as this information had been processed in Ember's mind, she started to grin.

"Caleb!" she exclaimed, throwing her arms around Caleb's neck. "Oh my god! It's so good to see you!"

"You too!" Caleb exclaimed as well as he picked Ember up of the ground.

"I missed you so much." Ember said as Caleb put her back on her feet.

"I missed you too." Caleb grinned before grabbing Ember into a hug again. "You have no idea how much."

"How have you been?" Ember said as Caleb let go of her again.

"I'm okay." Caleb said as the two of them started walking back to the lair. "What about you? You didn't get into a lot of trouble did you?"

"It wasn't too bad." Ember shrugged. "I talked my way out of most of it. But I'm still in trouble with my mum; she doesn't really trust me yet. So what about you? What have you been up to other than collecting Bio-Rods?"

"I've been trying to rig up something to extent the range of a transmission I've got running; I'm trying to contact other resistance members out there."

"Clever." Ember nodded as they stepped into the lair. "So been having any luck with that?"

"Not really." Caleb shook his head. "I'm getting there, but progress is slow."

"You'll get it eventually." Ember smiled as she picked up her backpack from the ground. "Don't know whether you're running out of them or not, but I brought you these."

Ember opened her backpack and pulled out the bananas she'd bought prior to packing her bag.

"Brilliant!" Caleb grinned. "I'm almost running out of these."

"You're welcome." Ember laughed as she pulled out her resistance outfit.

She walked into the storage room and quickly changed before walking out into the main room again and putting her normal cloths back into her backpack again.

"So, tell me, what's been going on here?" Ember asked.

"That's the thing, I don't know." Caleb replied. "Something's been going on, but I don't know what, it's not Neuros at any rate, she's been destroyed."

"True, but have you actually checked that Neuros is still dead?" Ember asked.

"No, not really." Caleb shook his head.

"Right." Ember nodded. "Well, maybe we should go check if she's still dead and if she is, we've just got to make sure that she can't be reactivated again."

"Just like old times." Caleb grinned.

"I know." Ember grinned.

She laughed when Caleb put the bananas aside and grabbed her hand before pulling her along with him. The two of them started running through FutureGate to go back to N-Lab.

"Why are we running?" Ember asked as the two of them reached the Shade plant.

"I don't know." Caleb replied. "But it's faster this way."

Ember laughed as they ran through the Shade plant. They reached N-Lab in record time and Caleb pulled the door open without a moment's hesitation. The two of them slowly stepped into N-Lab. As they looked around, they found that nothing had changed since the 'battle'. There were still short circuited or destroyed Roboidz standing around and in the middle was Neuros' podium that had been completely destroyed by the vector beams.

"Is it me or does it feel weird being back here?" Caleb asked.

"It's not just you." Ember replied. "It is weird... almost like revisiting a warzone or something."

As Ember looked around, all the memories of what had happened the day that Neuros and Arkon had been destroyed came flooding back to her. Thinking back on everything that she'd done there in N-Lab, she realized that what she'd done while moving through the web, she'd been incredibly stupid by taking the risks that she had. She shook those thoughts off as she walked over to the podium to check whether it was still working or not.

"Oh man, this is just disgusting." Ember complained when she got closer to the podium and saw that Neuros' brain was lying on the ground surrounded by shards of glass.

"Yeah, that is pretty horrible." Caleb agreed. "So... what do we do with it?"

"Well, best thing to do with it is get rid of it." Ember replied. "Just to make sure that she can't be revived or something."

"Right." Caleb nodded before looking down at Neuros' brain. "But I'm not touching that."

"I'm not touching that either." Ember remarked. "No way."

"Someone's gotta do it." Caleb stated.

"Yeah, but it's not going to be me." Ember agreed. "You're the man around here, men are supposed to do stuff like that."

"Says who?" Caleb asked, staring at Ember in surprise.

"I do." she replied. "That's what the men in 2010 do, do the disgusting jobs so us girls don't have too."

"We're not in 2010, Ember." Caleb replied. "So you do it."

"Bugger." Ember sighed. "I really thought that was going to work..."

"I'm far too clever to fall for that." Caleb grinned.

"Alright, no need to get smug." Ember said seriously before smiling and slapping Caleb on the arm. "But I'm still not touching that brain without a ten foot pole."

Caleb and Ember looked around for a moment to see if they could find something to use to transport the brain and in the end Ember sighed as she crouched down beside the brain.

"This is disgusting…" Ember grimaced.

She tried to get the brain into a section of the tube that hadn't been shattered completely. As she got the brain into the tube, she felt like throwing up. Over the three months the brain had started to decay a little and that much was evident by the smell.

"Alright." Ember said as she got to her feet. "Let's get out of here…"

"What are we going to do with it?" Caleb asked.

"The easiest way to make sure no-one can revive Neuros is burning the brain." Ember replied. "We'll need something that'll burn though, there's no way this thing will catch fire on its own, it's too wet for that."

"Alright." Caleb nodded.

The two of them left N-Lab and started walking back to towards the lair. On the way, they stopped by a storage room that contained mostly office supplies and they picked up a packet of printing paper before moving out on the deck. As they stepped out onto the deck, Ember smiled a little as she looked out over the waters. This was the sight that she'd missed when she was back in 2010, being able to just step outside and look out over the waters with the mountains beyond them. She followed Caleb over to a metal barrel and watched as he tore the packet of paper open and dropped all of it into the barrel. Ember held the tube upside down and the brain dropped into the barrel with a nasty squelching noise.

"All we need now are matches or something." Caleb remarked.

"Already took care of those." Ember replied, pulling out a box of them from one of her vest pockets.

Before she'd packed up her resistance outfit, Ember had put several things that she thought she'd need in the pockets of her khaki vest and she thought that Matches would be a handy thing to carry around. Ember struck one of the matches and held it to the packaging paper. When it had caught fire and was burning properly, Ember dropped it into the barrel. Caleb and Ember watched as the paper around Neuros' brain caught fire before stepping back as the fire started to lick at the edges of the barrel.

"Good riddance." Caleb remarked, crossing his arms over his chest.

"Show some respect, will you?" Ember stated to which Caleb gave her an odd look. "She might've been evil and tried to destroy us, but she was a human at one point. There's no reason to disrespect the dead, no matter how much you might've hated them."

Ember glanced up at Caleb for a moment and raised an eyebrow when she saw that Caleb was giving her a look that screamed that he thought she was insane.

"Maybe." Caleb said. "But she's not getting any respect from me."

Ember sighed as Caleb walked away and went back into FutureGate. Ember kept standing watching the fire burn, not just to make sure that Neuros' brain would burn completely, but also to pay her respects. She had meant what she'd said. No matter how much you hated a person; there was no reason not to pay them some respect after they had died. Plus back home, Ember had found out that Neuros had been a part of Laura Gant. She didn't know how it all had worked, but she did know that Neuros was Laura's evil side. Ember kept standing near the fire until she was sure that Neuros' brain had burned up completely. Ember could help but feel relieved that Neuros couldn't be resurrected now, now Ember could say with 100% certainty that Neuros couldn't terrorize the Earth anymore.

**So that's it for Chapter 3, I don't know when the next one is going to be up, but it'll probably be on either Monday or Tuesday. Hope you enjoyed it!:D**

**I also have an announcement to make. (sorry for the shameless self plugging). On the Mission 2110 forums here on , I've posted a topic with photos that show my characters created with the Sims 2 so you guys can get an idea what my characters look like. Feel free to check the topic out.:)**

**X Abby**


	4. Chapter 4

**Hiya!**

**Thanks to everyone who reviewed and gave me feedback on the Sims versions of my characters!**

**Anyways, here's chapter 4:D**

**Chapter 4: Investigating.**

After Ember had walked back into FutureGate, she started making her way back to the lair, having a feeling that that was where Caleb would be. Sure enough, when Ember walked into the lair maybe 20 minutes later, she found that Caleb was sitting behind the computer, digging through the FutureGate mainframe.

"Is it done?" Caleb asked without looking up.

"Yeah, it's done." Ember replied. "There's no way that Neuros will be able to come back now."

"Good." Caleb said coldly.

Ember sighed as she stared at Caleb's back, just by the way Caleb was sitting behind the computer, she could tell that he was angry about something. She walked over to him and wrapped her arms around him from behind.

"What is it?" Ember asked, looking over Caleb's shoulder at the screen.

"Nothing." Caleb replied. "I'm fine."

"You don't look fine." Ember replied. "Come on, tell me. I can't help you if you don't."

"Alright." Caleb sighed. "I've been having dreams."

"Dreams?" Ember repeated.

"Yeah, dreams." Caleb replied, turning around as Ember let go of him. "It's really weird I can't remember them half of the time."

"Okay..." Ember said slowly. "What are these dreams about?"

"I don't know." Caleb replied. "That's what I can't remember. It's kind of scary if I'm honest."

"I can understand that." Ember nodded. "How long has this been going on?"

"I don't know." Caleb shrugged.

Ember raised an eyebrow at him, she could see from the way he was avoiding her eyes that Caleb was lying.

"How long has this been going on?" Ember repeated, folding her arms over her chest.

"Maybe 3 months?" Caleb admitted, looking down at the ground.

"3 months?" Ember repeated. "Really? Have you told Cybele about this?"

"Not really." Caleb said, looking uncomfortable.

"Why not?" Ember asked.

"I didn't want to make her worry." Caleb replied.

"Caleb, Cybele cares about you." Ember smiled softly leaning down a little so she could look him in the eye as she put a hand on his shoulder. "I think you'd only end up worrying her more if you didn't tell her about you having dreams you can't remember, especially if they scare you."

"Cybele would probably tell me to ignore them anyway." Caleb said.

"Maybe, but she should know about this." Ember urged gently. "Don't get me wrong, you don't have to go tell her right now, but she has to know sooner or later."

"Alright." Caleb nodded. "I will."

Ember smiled before patting Caleb on the shoulder.

"So, what are you looking for?" she asked as Caleb turned back to the screen again.

"I'm trying to find as much information on my parents as I can." Caleb replied.

"Right." Ember nodded.

She could understand that. If she'd been in Caleb's shoes, she would've wanted to find out as much as she could about her parents too.

"I met your mum back in 2010." Ember remarked which made Caleb look up. "I kind of felt sorry for her... her parents keep dragging her to all these fancy dinner parties. She keeps being ignored the whole time..."

"That's horrible." Caleb shook his head.

"I know." Ember replied. "I've got to admit, it was kind of weird meeting her, but she was really nice."

Ember watched as Caleb just nodded silently before looking over his shoulder again.

"Ember?" Caleb asked.

"Yeah?" Ember replied.

"I'm remembering things too." Caleb stated.

"You remember things?" Ember repeated. "How do you mean?"

"Things from before I was frozen." Caleb replied.

Ember stared at Caleb for a moment; she didn't know what to say to that at all. What did you say to someone who was starting to remember things from his previously unknown past?

"Do... do you want to talk about it?" Ember asked, not sure what to say otherwise.

"I'm not sure what there is to talk about." Caleb shrugged. "so far I only remember being frozen..."

"Well, that's a good thing." Ember remarked which got her an odd look. "I mean... I don't mean the freezing process itself, but if you're starting to remember it, maybe your other memories will resurface too."

"Maybe, I don't know." Caleb shrugged. "I don't think I want to remember."

"You don't want to remember?" Ember asked in surprise.

She hadn't expected that response from Caleb. She thought he'd be happy to remember stuff about his parents.

"Why wouldn't you want to remember?" Ember asked. "I mean, you'll remember about what your parents were like, that's what you want right? Knowing what they were like?"

"But I'll also remember what it was like to be sick." Caleb replied. "You saw the scans. I was really sick, that's why they gave me cybernetics."

"But that's just a small part of your memories." Ember said, pulling up a chair beside Caleb. "Would you really want to give up on remembering what your parents were like because of the fact that a small part of your memories are going to be horrible?"

"I don't know." Caleb shrugged.

Ember smiled sadly as she watched Caleb. To her he reminded her of a frightened little boy at that moment.

"It's going to be alright." Ember said as she hugged Caleb. "You'll see. We'll figure something out. Try not to worry about that, alright?"

"Yeah, alright." Caleb replied as he hugged Ember back. "Thanks, Ember."

"That's what friends are for." Ember replied, smiling a little even though Caleb couldn't see before letting go of him.

Caleb just smiled slightly before turning to look at the screen of the computer again.

"So, you managed not to take out your frustrations on this one then?" Ember grinned, trying to lighten the mood a little.

"Not yet." Caleb replied, grinning back at her.

"Well, if you smash it, I'm not going to fix it, so watch it." Ember jokily warned.

"What were you going to do, granny?" Caleb smirked.

"Oi!" Ember complained, lightly hitting Caleb on the arm. "Stop calling me granny!"

"But you are." Caleb grinned.

"Shut it." Ember shook her head. "Never heard of respecting your elders?"

"Someone did tell me that once." Caleb said thoughtfully before grinning at Ember again.

"You're unbelievable." Ember shook her head.

She walked over to her backpack and pulled it open before pulling out her laptop. She walked back over to the computer and connected a LAN cable to her laptop so she'd be able to get into the FutureGate mainframe herself. It didn't take her that long to get access to it before she started going through the system to see whether the messages were cut short because of a malfunction.

An hour of Caleb and Ember working in comfortable silence, later, Ember sighed as she leaned back against her chair and ran her hand through her hair, flicking her bangs out of her eyes as she did.

"Bugger..." she muttered.

"What's wrong?" Caleb asked.

"Well, I've been running a system diagnostic of the link we've been using to talk to each other, but I can't find anything wrong with it." Ember replied. "I can't find any reason why the messages have been cut short, everything is working properly, or it should be at any rate."

"That's really weird." Caleb remarked.

"I know." Ember nodded thoughtfully as she crossed her arms over her chest. "I don't know about you, but this isn't sitting well with me at all. Why would the messages be cut in half if everything is in working order? Unless someone's messing with them, but that's not possible, Neuros is gone."

"You're right, that's a scary thought." Caleb agreed. "I don't like it."

"Me neither..." Ember shook her head thoughtfully. "I'm going to run one more diagnostic... maybe I missed something the first time around."

Ember got back to work again and another hour later, she had finished the second diagnostic, but again she got the result that there was nothing wrong with the system. There shouldn't be anything that was cutting the messages short, yet they were. It didn't make sense to Ember at all and that was bothering her.

Ember leaned back against her seat as she thought about why the message could've been cut short when she felt a hand on her shoulder, making her jump. On instinct she span around, ready to lash out but she stopped herself when she saw that it was Caleb. Ember let out a breath in relief, thinking that being back on FutureGate was making her more jumpy than it should.

"It's alright." Caleb grinned. "It's just me."

"Don't do that when I'm thinking!" Ember exclaimed to which Caleb started to laugh. "It's not funny! You frightened the life out of me!"

"Yeah, I can tell." Caleb smirked. "You're turning gray. I can see a gray hair right there."

"Oh, you're so heading into dangerous territory." Ember smirked back. "I'll get you back for that, you realize that don't you?"

"I'd like to see you try." Caleb grinned.

"Is that a challenge?" Ember asked, raising an amused eyebrow.

"Maybe." Caleb shrugged.

"Well, challenge accepted." Ember replied before grinning. "You're going to wish you never challenged me."

"Bring it on." Caleb stated.

"Alright, alright." Ember laughed. "I think that's enough fun for the moment. What's up?"

"Nothing just thought you might be hungry." Caleb replied.

"Oh, no thanks." Ember shook her head. "You eat if you want. Where did you set up the time link?"

"The command deck." Caleb replied. "Why?"

"Well, I'm thinking maybe the problem isn't in the operating program, but in the mechanics itself." Ember replied. "So I'm going to go check it out."

"I'll come with you." Caleb said putting the banana he was about to start eating aside.

"You sure?" Ember asked as she closed her laptop and pulled out the LAN wire.

"Yeah." Caleb nodded.

Ember nodded and let Caleb lead the way to the command deck when they got there, Caleb showed Ember to where the link had been set up.

"Alright, let's have a look." Ember said more to herself than to Caleb.

She sat down on the ground beside the machine and opened her laptop before plugging in the cable into an outlet.

"Do you know what you're doing?" Caleb asked.

"Not really." Ember admitted. "But I'm not going to break anything, don't worry. I'm just running a harmless system's check."

"Alright." Caleb nodded.

The two of them sat side by side as the diagnostic ran and a while later, the results came in.

"Nothing wrong?" Caleb asked. "That's not possible."

"I know." Ember nodded. "This isn't right. We both know something's going on, so why can't we find it? It just doesn't fit."

Ember ran her hands over her face as she leaned back against the console to think.

"Any ideas?" Ember asked, turning to Caleb.

"No, you?" Caleb replied.

"None whatsoever..." Ember shook her head. "I don't know... maybe it was just a temporary malfunction and we're just overreacting."

"I don't know." Caleb replied thoughtfully. "I mean, there are some sinister things going on around here."

"You mentioned that." Ember nodded. "But what kind of things?"

"Well, mostly stuff like things disappearing from the lair, the computer being on with stuff on the screen that I never asked for. It's a bit creepy to be honest."

"Stuff has gone missing?" Ember asked. "What kind of stuff?"

"Bio-Rods mostly." Caleb replied. "Some tools, that's it."

"That's weird..." Ember said thoughtfully. "You're the only person here on FutureGate..."

"I know." Caleb replied.

Ember sighed as she flicked her bangs from her face. The more information she got, the more she felt that there was something wrong. To tell the truth, Ember felt that the whole situation was just getting creepier by the second.

"So, what do we do now?" Ember asked. "Sitting here isn't going to do... wait... I just got an idea!"

"Mind telling me?" Caleb asked as Ember started to type.

"I just remembered." Ember replied as she kept typing. "The first time I hacked into the mainframe, I saw this program that can track live forms on FutureGate. At first I was kind of surprised when I found it, I mean, Neuros could've used it to find us, but it was buried so deep into the system she probably didn't have time to go looking for it, or she didn't know it existed."

"Ember, I'm starting to get confused." Caleb stated, looking confused.

"Sorry, I tend to ramble a bit sometimes." Ember apologized. "The point is that with that program, I can see if there's someone else on FutureGate other than the two of us, Cybele and a load of dead Roboidz and Shades."

"That's brilliant." Caleb remarked, looking over Ember's shoulder. "Any results yet?"

"Easy there, Speedy Gonzales." Ember smiled. "I might be a fast runner but that doesn't mean that that fast when it comes to typing."

"Sorry." Caleb smiled sheepishly. "Got a little carried away."

"It's okay; we all have that problem sometimes." Ember smiled before looking back at the screen. "And the results are in! Oh..."

"Oh?" Caleb repeated. "What does that mean, 'oh'?"

"Oh as in, no results." Ember replied, leaning back again. "Bugger..."

"And no results would mean...?" Caleb asked.

"It's just us, Cybele, and a load of dead Roboidz and Shades on FutureGate. Not another person or life form on the entire ship..." Ember sighed. "In other words, we've got nothing to go on."

She glanced over at Caleb when he sighed too before the two of them leaned back against the console. Neither of them knew what they were supposed to do now, but they both knew that there was something going on in FutureGate that wasn't good at all, the only problem was that they didn't know what it was or how to find out what it was.

**So that is it for chapter 4, hope you enjoyed it!**

**The next one should be up in a few days.**

**As always let me know what you think:P**

**~ Abby**


	5. Chapter 5

**Hiya!**

**Thanks to everyone who reviewed! It's really appreciated!**

**Hope you enjoy chapter 5!:D**

**Chapter 5: Speculations.**

After sitting there for a while watching the sunset through the window, Caleb and Ember decided that it was time to go back to the lair to get some sleep. As if it was some kind of unspoken agreement, Caleb and Ember got comfortable on Caleb's bed. It didn't take all that long for Caleb to fall asleep, but sleep decided to elude Ember. Her mind was working overtime in trying to work out what was going on inside FutureGate. After a while, Ember decided to go talk to the one person who maybe knew what was going on.

After a few moments of debating whether it was safe for Ember to leave Caleb on his own, the memories of what had happened last time still fresh in her mind despite it having been three months, Ember climbed to her feet and grabbed her boots. She silently left the sleeping quarters and after putting on her boots, she scribbled a quick note for Caleb to let him know where she was and left the lair. She started walking the all too familiar route to Cybele's hide out and when Ember got there, she stood at the top of the steps for a moment, wondering what she was going to say to the AI seeing as they hadn't always seen eye to eye. As soon as Ember's feet hit the gantry though, Cybele appeared.

"Ember?" Cybele asked, sounding surprised. "What are you doing here?"

"Good to see you too, Cybele." Ember replied.

Ember genuinely meant that it was good to see Cybele. She had missed the AI despite their differences in the past.

"I wanted to come back." Ember continued as she sat down on the bottom step. "That and Caleb needs help."

"Help?" Cybele repeated. "Caleb hasn't mentioned anything about needing help."

"Didn't he?" Ember asked before frowning. "Wonder why not..."

"What does Caleb need help with?" Cybele asked.

"It's a little vague if you ask me." Ember replied. "From what Caleb has told me, stuff has been going missing from the lair. Bio-Rods, tools, stuff like that. And it's not just that, back when I was in 2010, we were still keeping in touch through the time link. Something has been going on with that, messages didn't get send properly, like half the message would've been erased. But I checked the systems and it didn't show anything wrong with it at all."

"Have you been thorough?" Cybele asked.

"I ran each check I did twice." Ember nodded. "What do you think about all of this, Cybele?"

"I don't know." Cybele replied. "I'm afraid this isn't something I can help you or Caleb with, Ember."

"Alright." Ember nodded. "Thanks for listening anyway."

"But I do think you're right." Cybele said before Ember could leave. "Something is going on here on FutureGate. Keep me informed, Ember."

"I will." Ember nodded. "Goodnight."

"Goodnight." Cybele repeated before disappearing.

Ember sighed as she walked back up the steps and started making her way back to the lair. She had thought that Cybele had some answers for her, but clearly she'd been wrong. She couldn't help but feel a little disappointed by that.

As Ember got back to the lair sometime later, she figured that she and Caleb would just have to figure out on their own what was going on. She slipped back into bed beside Caleb and the minute she'd gotten comfy, Caleb turned onto his side to face her and the next thing she knew, he had cuddled up against her side before sighing contently.

"Missed you too, Caleb." Ember whispered as she wrapped her arms around Caleb.

When Ember woke up the following morning, she opened her eyes and saw that Caleb was still sleeping beside her. For a moment Ember thought it was somewhere in the middle of the night, but as she glanced over to the window, she found that the sun had already come up.

"Bugger..." Ember sighed before turning to Caleb. "Caleb, come on, time to wake up."

As Ember sat up, Caleb started to wake up and by the time that Ember had pulled on her boots, Caleb was sitting up, rubbing his eyes.

"What time is it?" Caleb asked, rubbing his eyes.

"Don't know." Ember shrugged before looking at her watch. "This thing isn't of much use... the time's off... I think it's getting close to midday though..."

"Right." Caleb nodded as he climbed to his feet.

"Yeah." Ember nodded. "You know, I've had a talk with Cybele yesterday."

"You did?" Caleb asked. "When?"

"I couldn't sleep." Ember shrugged. "I told her what we've already discussed, she doesn't have a clue what could be going on."

"That's not very useful then, is it?" Caleb asked as they walked out of the sleeping quarters.

"That's what I thought." Ember nodded. "So, where do we go from here? I mean, we're basically on square one and we don't have a clue where to start looking."

"I really don't know." Caleb replied. "We could... we could eat something first?"

Ember stared at Caleb for a few moments before she started to laugh.

"What's so funny?" Caleb asked.

"You are!" Ember replied. "I thought we were going to find out what's going on here and then you say, let's eat something first!"

"I still don't see how that's funny." Caleb frowned.

"Oh, never mind." Ember smiled. "I agree, let's eat something first, we'll worry about this later. So master chef, what's on the menu?"

"Let's have a look, shall we?" Caleb grinned.

Ember smiled as she watched Caleb walk over to the bag that she recognized from her scavenging when she'd been looking for the cryo freezing lab the first time she'd been on FutureGate.

"I've got bananas." Caleb said, pulling out a few of them. "Apples, toast, bacon... and this."

Ember watched as Caleb held up a vacuum packed lump of butter. It hadn't been labelled so Ember could understand why it was confusing to Caleb.

"You're supposed to put that on the toast." Ember explained. "Not all of it, mind just, just a little bit of it."

"Oh, right." Caleb nodded. "So what will it be?"

"I'll have some toast, chef." Ember grinned.

She laughed as Caleb tossed her a few packets of toast before he grabbed a few bananas for himself.

"Banana addict." Ember laughed as she opened a packet of toast.

"Toast addict." Caleb replied, giving Ember a smirk.

"Toast won't get you constipated." Ember replied before sticking out her tongue at Caleb.

"Won't get you what?" Caleb repeated.

"You don't wanna know." Ember shook her head as she started to nibble on the toast.

As Caleb and Ember ate breakfast, Ember's mind started to wander once again. She started to think that seeing as it wasn't anything human that was making stuff disappear, maybe it was something else, something Alien maybe. After all, from what Ember knew from what she'd seen in the Cycon archive, Earth had been in contact with Aliens prior to the Roboid invasion.

"That might just be it..." Ember said.

"What might just be it?" Caleb asked, looking up.

"We haven't been able to find anything right?" Ember asked. "Not a single clue that it's something human that's been causing all of this, so what if it's something Alien?"

"Alien?" Caleb repeated.

"Yeah." Ember nodded. "Remember the Cycon Archive? Angel spoke about communications with Aliens, that means that at some point in history, Earth was talking to Aliens."

"Why would an Alien want to stop us talking to each other?" Caleb asked.

"I don't know, I'm just throwing theories about..." Ember shrugged. "We don't have anything else to go on..."

"Yeah, you're right." Caleb nodded before sighing. "Alright, let's try to find out."

"You've got any idea how?" Ember asked. "Because I'm kind of clueless right now…"

"We could…" Caleb started. "We could build a scanner."

"A scanner?" Ember repeated. "You mean something like an Alien tech scanner?"

"Yeah, something like that." Caleb nodded enthusiastically. "It shouldn't be that hard, should it?"

"I don't really know about that Caleb." Ember replied. "Stuff like that is really hard to build… but it could be worth a shot. It's better than nothing at any rate. So how are we going to do this?"

"Can you write a program for it?" Caleb asked.

"Probably." Ember nodded. "If I can find an Alien database in the mainframe then I should be able to make a program for it."

"Good." Caleb nodded. "You do that; I'll worry about building the device."

"Alright." Ember nodded, reaching over to grab her laptop. "I might have to build a power source for my laptop first though. I'm running out of power…"

"Can't you rig something up using a Bio-Rod?" Caleb asked.

"I'll give it a go." Ember nodded.

Ember got to her feet and walked over to the container that held all the Bio-Rods, after grabbing one from it, Ember walked over to the workbench and started constructing a power rig for her laptop. A while later, she had finished the rig and hooked it up to her laptop to let it charge. She glanced over at Caleb to find that he was looking extremely concentrated as he made the scanner itself. She smiled a little at the look of concentration on Caleb's face, it reminded her of Rutger when he was working on his History home work.

When Rutger sprang to mind, Ember's mind started to wander on home. She had to admit that she really missed Rutger now that she wasn't able to go visit him at any given time she felt like it. She hadn't expected it at all, but over the three months, she'd really fallen in love with Rutger.

Ember ended up shaking those thoughts from her mind and turned on her laptop to start looking for a database with Alien races. It took some work, but after digging really deep into the mainframe, she did find a database that had a catalogue of Alien races in it. After leaning back in her seat for a moment, she started to write a program that would allow them to find Aliens.

"Finished!" Caleb exclaimed, making Ember jump.

Ember looked up to find that Caleb was holding up a modified PDA with a big grin.

"You're determined to give me a heart attack, aren't you?" Ember smiled.

"Why would I want to do that?" Caleb asked, looking at Ember in complete and total confusion.

"It was a joke, Caleb." Ember smiled. "Calm down, but the scanner looks brilliant though. But it's going to take at least another three hours before the program is ready."

"Alright." Caleb nodded. "Would you mind if I went to talk to Cybele?"

"No, of course not." Ember smiled. "You take all the time you need."

"Alright, I'll be back later." Caleb grinned before leaving the lair.

Ember shook her head to herself as she turned back to face her laptop. She had a feeling that Caleb was going to talk to Cybele about what he'd told Ember. If this was indeed the case, she just hoped the Cybele wouldn't be too hard on Caleb for not telling her everything that was bothering him.

Maybe 3 and a half hours later, Ember had finished the program and loaded it up to the scanner. She didn't know that it would actually work until she'd given it a test run. She decided to walk around FutureGate for a while and give the scanner a test. In her opinion, the scanner worked perfectly, it did what it was supposed to do, but she didn't know for sure that whether it was going to work until she came across something alien in origin.

"Bugger." Ember sighed.

She turned to walk back to the lair again when the scanner started beeping.

"What?" Ember asked out loud.

She looked down at the screen to find that the scanner was picking an Alien life form.

"Bloody hell..." Ember whispered, ducking into the shadows of an alcove.

She looked down at the screen to find that the Alien was coming closer and closer by the second and after a few moments; she could hear footsteps coming closer. Ember could feel her heart beating in her throat as the footsteps came incredibly close and once the scanner showed that the Alien was going to pass right in front of her, she looked up to find Caleb walking past.

"What the..." Ember whispered. "Caleb, wait."

She stepped out of the alcove and walked over to Caleb to find that the scanner was going crazy with the readings it was picking up.

"Where did you come from?" Caleb asked.

"I managed to get the scanner working so I decided to give it a test run." Ember replied. "I picked up some readings of an Alien coming closer so I hid to see what it was."

"And?" Caleb asked.

"Well, the strange thing about all of this is that you're the source of the readings." Ember replied.

"What?" Caleb asked.

"Here." Ember replied, handing Caleb the scanner. "The centre of this circle is the scanner and the person who's holding it. See? The 'Alien' is at the centre of the circle, which basically means that the 'Alien' is holding the scanner."

"But I'm not an Alien!" Caleb protested. "I'm human!"

"Hey, calm down." Ember said, taking the scanner from Caleb when she saw that he was panicking. "It's okay."

"How can it be okay?" Caleb asked.

"Caleb, you're not an Alien, you're as human as I am." Ember stated, trying to sound firm but reassuring at the same time. "If you ask me, it's your cybernetics that's messing with the scanner."

"What do you mean?" Caleb asked.

"I think that your mother used Alien technology to ensure that the cybernetics would work." Ember replied. "Not just so they'd work properly as your human 'components' would, but also to keep this mystery sickness from spreading and ultimately killing you."

"You really think so?" Caleb asked, raising his eyebrows at Ember.

"It's the only explanation that I can think off." Ember said confidently. "But we can make sure."

"How?" Caleb asked.

"The medical equipment in the cryo freezing lab." Ember replied.

"Let's go." Caleb said.

The next thing that Ember knew was that Caleb had grabbed her hand and was pulling her along in the direction of the cryo freezing lab.

**So that's it for chapter 5! Hope you liked it.**

**The action is going to pick up in the next chapter, although I'm not sure when I'll be posting that. I'm off at an internship where I'll be sleeping as well so I don't know what I'll have access to the internet. But I'll try my best to get the chapter up ASAP.:)**

**As always, let me know what you think.**

**X Abby**


	6. Chapter 6

**Hiya.**

**I managed to find some time during my internship to use my laptop, so here's chapter 5!**

**Hope you enjoy it :P**

**Chapter 6: First Contact.**

It didn't take all that long for Caleb and Ember to reach the cryo freezing lab and when they did, Caleb pushed the door open before they stepped inside.

"So what do we do?" Caleb asked.

"I'm not sure." Ember replied walking over to the examination table.

She turned on the machine and started to examine the system. She knew she wasn't an expert when it came to medical technology, but seeing as she didn't want to show that she didn't know anything about the machine, she quickly examined the system as much as she could.

"Alright, I think I've got this thing figured out..." Ember said slowly.

"Great." Caleb grinned before frowning. "What do I do?"

"Just lie down on the table and keep completely still, alright?" Ember replied.

Caleb nodded and pushed himself up on the table before lying down on it. Ember glanced down at the system and after typing in a few commands, she figured that the scan was ready to go.

"Ready?" Ember asked.

"Yes." Caleb replied.

Ember nodded and started the machine. She cringed a little when the machine started the scan; she had thought that in the future the noise of a full body scan like these, which she compared to getting an MRI scan, had been cut down, but as it turned out, it hadn't.

"Is this thing supposed to do that?" Caleb called over the noise.

"Yeah, just keep still." Ember replied. "Just 1 more minute."

A minute later, the machine had stopped its scan and Caleb sat up.

"You alright?" Ember asked, seeing the distant look in his eyes.

"Yeah, think so." Caleb replied. "I heard that noise before..."

"Sorry to make you go through that again..." Ember said quietly.

Ember felt like kicking herself the moment that Caleb had said that he'd heard the noise before. She hadn't thought about the fact that he must've gone through something like that before, from before he was frozen.

"What about the results?" Caleb asked, jumping of the table.

"They're coming up now." Ember replied as the printing system activated.

As soon as the printer had finished, Ember grabbed the results from it before spreading them out on the table. The results showed the outline of a male along with various bits of information about the person in question, in this case the person being Caleb.

"Is this it?" Caleb asked.

"Yeah, it is." Ember replied. "Let's have a look... alright, these are your cybernetics... all of this looks really familiar."

"Yeah, it does, it's like that scan in the Cycon Archive." Caleb nodded. "I wonder if that scan is still in the system's memory."

"Why d'you want to know that?" Ember asked.

"To see if the disease has spread or not." Caleb replied.

"Good thinking." Ember nodded before turning to the computer.

It didn't take her that long to find the scan from when Caleb was 17, so she printed them out and put it beside the scan they'd done just moments before.

"Doesn't look like the disease has spread." Ember remarked. "The cybernetics are clearly doing their job..."

"Fortunately for me." Caleb stated his face grim.

"Yeah." Ember agreed before looking over the sheet of data that had come with the scan. "Let's see... Looks like the scanner is working perfectly."

"So there is Alien tech in my cybernetics?" Caleb asked, looking over Ember's shoulder.

"Yeah." Ember nodded.

"Well, that's unexpected." Caleb remarked. "I'm not really sure what to think about that."

"I know what to think about it." Ember stated.

"You do?" Caleb asked.

"Well, yeah, just because you've got alien tech doesn't make you any less of a human." Ember smiled before taking out the scanner. "It doesn't say what kind of Alien's provided the tech..."

"Maybe it's buried somewhere in the mainframe?" Caleb suggested.

"It's worth a look." Ember nodded.

She walked over to the computer standing in the lab while Caleb kept comparing the two scans. It took some careful and deep digging, but eventually Ember found the schematics for Caleb's cybernetics.

"Here we are then." Ember remarked. "Right, so the tech for your cybernetics was provided by a race called The Elders."

"The Elders?" Caleb repeated, looking up.

"Yeah." Ember nodded. "Says here that The Elders have a lot of knowledge of cybernetics. It seems that if they have a body part that's broken or injured, they simply replace it with a cybernetic component."

"Talk about creepy." Caleb remarked.

"It gets even weirder." Ember remarked. "Says here that once an Elder has had too much cybernetic components, he or she will become an outcast from society."

"Really? Just like that?" Caleb asked. "So they replace any part of their body once it gets hurt, but when they get to many cybernetics components, they get chucked out with the rubbish?"

"That's a harsh way of putting it, but that's what it basically comes down too." Ember nodded. "This race needs some serious reorganizing if you ask me."

"I agree." Caleb replied.

"I've got a picture of them here." Ember remarked.

Ember grimaced a little when she saw that The Elders had heads that looked like they were see through, meaning that you could see their brain. Other than that, they looked just like a human.

"That's horrible." Caleb grimaced.

"Tell me about it." Ember agreed, clicking the screen away. "Anyway, are we going to start sweeping FutureGate or leave it until morning?"

"We might as well start now." Caleb replied.

Ember nodded and turned on the scanner, now that she knew that Caleb had Alien tech in his cybernetics, she could ignore the readings that were coming of it.

They started walking around FutureGate and swept the decks slowly and thoroughly. By the time that they got to the lowest deck, Ember didn't know what the time was, but she did know that she was getting really tired and judging from Caleb's expression, he was getting tired too.

"Maybe we should call it a day for now." Ember sighed. "It won't do us any good to chase Aliens, if there even are any, exhausted."

"Yeah, you're right." Caleb agreed. "Let's head back to the lair."

Ember nodded and followed Caleb back the way they came. Just about as Ember started to put the scanner away, it started to go off.

"Wait." Ember said, grabbing Caleb's arm.

"What?" Caleb asked.

"I've got a reading." Ember replied. "Something's coming towards us..."

Ember looked down at the scanner to see that the red dot that signalled an Alien presence was coming closer and closer by the second.

"It's coming at us from behind." Ember remarked, turning around.

Caleb turned around too and took a step forward as if he was putting himself in front of Ember.

"How long 'till it gets here?" Caleb asked.

"20 seconds max." Ember replied, looking up from the scanner down the corridor.

Ember kept glancing back and forth between the scanner and the corridor. The dot kept coming closer and closer to the centre, but there weren't any signs of footsteps just yet.

"Ember?" Caleb asked.

"Should be rounding the corner now." Ember replied, looking up.

Ember felt her muscles tightening, ready to spring into action, but nothing happened. There wasn't a sign of an Alien at all.

"I don't get it." Ember remarked before looking down at the scanner. "It just passed us... why didn't we see it?"

"It's in the air vents." Caleb said, looking up them.

Without a single warning, Caleb grabbed Ember's hand and started to run, pulling her along in the process. Ember had no choice but to run along with him. Without having to be told, Ember started shouting the directions they had to go in, keeping one eye on the scanner the whole time. Sometime later, Caleb and Ember reached a dead end and they were forced to a stop.

"It's gone." Ember said, looking down at the scanner. "We lost it."

"This way." Caleb suddenly said.

Ember stared as Caleb started running again and she had no choice but to follow Caleb to make sure she wouldn't get lost. When Caleb finally came to a halt at a door deep into the bowels of FutureGate, Ember felt like her legs were turning to jelly.

"What are we doing here?" Ember gasped as she leaned her hands on her knees.

When she straightened up, she saw that Caleb was just staring at the door in front of him. He wasn't doing anything at all, just staring at the door as if he were day dreaming.

"Caleb?" Ember asked. "Caleb, what's wrong?"

When she reached out to touch Caleb's arm, he didn't give any form or response whatsoever and that was what scared Ember probably the most. She walked out in front of him and looked him straight in the eye just to see that there was this blank look that Ember didn't recognize at all and that was what scared her the most, seeing as Caleb's eyes always revealed how he felt about something, no exceptions.

"Caleb." Ember said more firmly, grabbing both his arms this time.

When there again wasn't a response, Ember walked past him over to the door. She leaned forward and put her ear against the door to see whether she could hear any form of sounds form the other side of the door, but when she couldn't, Ember straightened up. She reached into one of her pockets and took out a switch blade.

Ember wasn't a violent person at all, but when she'd been packing her bags to go back to FutureGate, she figured that she'd need some way to protect herself if she absolutely had too, seeing that there weren't going to be metal bars around everywhere she went, so she'd "borrowed" her brother's, Bryce, switchblade. Ember reached for the handle of the door and slowly pushed it down before pushing the door open. When she stepped into the room, Ember felt like she'd stepped onto the set of Doctor Who. The entire room was filled with Alien technology.

"Bloody hell..." Ember whispered as she looked around.

She cast a hesitant glance back at Caleb, but when she saw that he still had the blank look in his eyes, she turned back to the room and walked over to the first computer she saw. Even though she had a bad feeling about everything, she wanted to know what the hell was going on. As she wanted to start hacking into it, she saw that the keys were in a language that she couldn't understand, so she ended up just staring at the keyboard and wondering what to do. In the end Ember decided to leave it for what it was and leave the room before something bad happened.

When Ember was about to step through the door, it slammed shut into her face, confirming her bad feeling and trapping her inside the room.

"You've got to be bloody kidding me!" Ember exclaimed as she grabbed hold of the door handle. "No, no, no, no... This can't be happening..."

Ember rammed her shoulder against the door in an attempt to open it, but the door wouldn't budge.

"Caleb!" Ember yelled. "Caleb, help me! I'm trapped! Caleb!"

"The boy can't hear you." A voice said somewhere in the shadows in the room.

Ember turned around and tightened her grip on the knife as she pressed her back against the wall.

"What have you done to him?" Ember asked, looking around at the shadows.

"He is under my control for now." The voice, which sounded like a man, said.

"You bastard." Ember hissed. "You'd better release him right now or you're going to be in more trouble than you'll be able to handle."

"What were you going to do?" the man asked. "That little knife of yours won't do me much harm."

"Trust me; I can do enough harm without a knife." Ember replied. "Now release your hold over Caleb."

"Not yet." The man replied. "First I want to talk to you."

"Alright, we'll talk." Ember replied. "After you let go of Caleb."

"No." The man replied. "You don't have to worry about him right now. He won't remember anything that's happened once I release him from my control."

"Bastard." Ember repeated. "Why don't you start acting like a man and show yourself? Or are you afraid to face one girl?"

"Don't test me, little girl." The man snapped.

"I'll take that as a challenge." Ember remarked. "Besides, you're the one who's scared to show yourself, hiding in the shadows like a cockroach. Come on then, come out and face me like a man!"

Ember stood completely still as she waited for the response. In the end, she could hear footsteps, followed by a man stepping out of the shadows. She could see that it was an Elder straight away due to the fact that his head seemed almost see through and because the man had two cybernetic arms as well as having a half metal face. Although when Ember looked at the man's forehead, she started feeling sick as she could see through the man's skull and see his brain. It didn't help matters much that she could see all the blood vessels as well through the pale blue hue of his skin.

"Not quite what you expected did you, Ember?" the man asked.

"How the hell do you know my name?" Ember demanded.

"I know all about you, Ember Tennant." The man said as he stepped forward. "I know about your connection to the boy and that you aided him in destroying my creation, Neuros."

"You helped Laura Gant create Cybele and Neuros..." Ember said slowly in realization before making herself smirk at the man. "Well, that's what you get when you try to control an entire planet through a puppet; they tend to end up being destroyed."

"You humans." The man shook his head. "You're all the same; you all think you're so clever."

"Truth hurts, doesn't it?" Ember smirked.

As soon as the comment left her mouth, Ember wondered why the hell she was being a smartass, she knew that it was just going to end up biting her in the butt.

"And there's another human trait." The man continued. "Arrogance."

"Oh please." Ember rolled her eyes. "Is that all you're going to do? Point out the flaws in the human race? Why don't you just get to the point and tell me why you've gone through the trouble to get control off Earth?"

"I have my reasons." The man replied. "None of which are your concern. All you need to know is that it was very easy to persuade Arkon to lead the revolt and lead Roboidz back to Earth."

"Millions have died because you." Ember stated, feeling her blood boiling with anger. "Their blood is on your hands... you're going to pay for this. I'm going to make you pay for all those deaths!"

"And how were you going to do that?" the man laughed.

"I'll find a way." Ember replied.

"You'll find a way?" the man repeated. "You can't even find a way to help the boy. Why would you even try?"

Ember chose not to answer this question. He was right; she didn't know how she was going to help Caleb escape the Alien's control. All she knew was that she had to find some way of stopping the man before he used Caleb to do something terrible.

"Identify yourself." Ember demanded.

"Why?" the man replied.

"You know my name." Ember replied. "Never heard of having good manners?"

"You'll find out my name." The man said as he came closer to Ember "all in good time. First, you're going to tell me where I can find Cybele."

"I don't know what you're talking about." Ember stated.

She felt her heart sinking a little at hearing Cybele's name. She didn't want to think about what could happen if this Alien got his hands on her.

"Come now, Ember." The man laughed. "You know what I mean."

"No, I don't." Ember replied. "You stay the hell away from me."

"Tell me where I can find Cybele." The man stated.

"I don't know where she is!" Ember yelled. "I swear, come any closer and you're going to regret it!"

The man just kept coming closer and closer and Ember had no idea what she could possible do to stop this man.

**And that is it for the chapter, hope you like it! :D**

**Sorry about the cliff hanger, but you won't have to wait long, I'll have the next chapter up on Friday.**

**As always, let me know what you think! :D**

**X Abby**


	7. Chapter 7

**Hiya!**

**Thanks to everyone who reviewed!**

**Here's Chapter 7.**

**Chapter 7: Sickness**

"Tell me where Cybele can be found." The man repeated.

"I don't know where she is!" Ember insisted.

"Stop lying to me." The man yelled, making Ember jump a little. "You know where I can find Cybele. Tell me, where is she?"

As the man got closer and closer, Ember didn't see any other choice but to defend herself, so she turned the knife around in her hand so the blade was pointing towards her elbow. As soon as the Alien came into range, Ember swung the knife as fast as she could. The man yelled as the knife cut into the none metal side of his face before he straightened up. Ember watched as a trickle of black blood started trailing down the man's face from the cut that she'd caused.

"Stay the hell away from me." Ember warned, raising the knife again.

"You really think that is going to stop me." The man laughed. "You're going to have to do a lot better than that. Anyway, I think you should pay for that little trick you just pulled."

"Go on then, do your worst." Ember challenged, squaring her shoulders in preparation of what was to come.

"Very well." The man nodded as he walked over to the computers. "Let's see how the boy does without the cybernetics stopping his disease."

"What?" Ember exclaimed. "No, you can't! Caleb's got nothing to do with this, leave him out of it!"

"You forget Ember, I know everything about you." The man said as he typed in a few commands. "And I know that the way to hurt you the most is by hurting the people you care for."

"Please, do anything you want to me." Ember pleaded. "Just leave Caleb out of this, I'm begging you."

"Begging won't do you much good." The man stated. "Let's see what you think about revealing Cybele's location after a few days of watching the boy getting sicker and sicker."

"Please, you can't do this!" Ember yelled as she ran over to the man and grabbed hold of one of his arms to stop him typing in the commands. "Stop it, please!"

Without a warning, the man turned around and hit Ember in the face. Because of the force of the blow, Ember fell back to the ground. She sat up and put a hand to her face as she watched the Alien standing over her.

"Please, don't do this." Ember pleaded.

"We'll see how you feel about all of this in a few days." The man said. "You know where to find me if you change your mind. Now leave."

Ember watched as the man walked back into the shadows before she climbed to her feet and ran back to find that Caleb was still staring at the door.

"Caleb?" Ember asked, grabbing his arms. "Caleb, wake up!"

She looked around when the door slammed closed behind her and a second later, Caleb finally blinked a few times before giving Ember a confused look.

"Ember? What are we doing here?" Caleb asked.

"I don't know." Ember replied. "You just grabbed my hand and lead me here. Are you okay?"

"Yeah, yeah I think so..." Caleb nodded.

"Come on, let's go back to the lair and call it a night." Ember said.

"Yeah, let's do that." Caleb agreed.

Ember nodded and the two of them started on their journey back at the lair. During the walk back, Ember kept an eye on Caleb the whole time and she could've sworn that he was starting to get paler and paler the closer they got to the lair. By the time that they reached the Shade plant close to N-Lab, Caleb started to move a little more sluggishly too.

"Come on." Ember said, taking hold of Caleb's arm before pulling it over her shoulder to help support his weight.

"I'm fine, Ember." Caleb complained.

"Sure you are." Ember nodded.

Ember had to fight to keep her expression neutral. She knew only too well what was going on with Caleb, but she didn't have the nerve to tell him what was going on. She hadn't expected at all that the illness was going to take effect so quickly and to be honest, it scared her a lot.

By the time that they got back to the lair, Ember was almost completely supporting Caleb's weight as they stepped inside.

"Ember, I don't feel so good." Caleb complained.

"Come on, let's get you to bed." Ember replied.

Ember helped Caleb into the sleeping quarters before helping him sit down on his bed and easing the leather jacket of his shoulders, followed by his hoodie.

"Go on, lie down." Ember said, helping Caleb lie down.

Afterwards, Ember helped Caleb pull of his boots before pulling the blanket up over him.

"I feel sick." Caleb complained.

"It's probably just a stomach bug you've caught or something." Ember replied, putting her hand on his forehead and gently starting to stroke it with her thumb. "You'll be alright in a day or two."

"Are you sure?" Caleb asked. "I don't want to become sick again."

"You won't." Ember tried to reassure him although she knew that she was lying. "Just try to sleep, okay? It'll do you good."

"Promise?" Caleb asked.

"Promise." Ember smiled.

The way that Caleb was looking reminded Ember of a little boy and she felt so terribly guilty for having caused this. It was never her intention to get Caleb into harm's way. When she'd yelled at the Alien to do his worst, she had expected him to take it out on her, not on Caleb and all of this was just because the Alien wanted to know where the location of Cybele's hideout was.

"Don't leave me." Caleb pleaded. "I don't want to be alone."

"You won't be." Ember smiled, becoming aware of the fact that Caleb was developing a fever. "Just sleep, alright? I'll be here when you wake up."

Caleb nodded before he turned onto his side and closing his eyes. Ember watched as he started to fall asleep before she sat back and pulled her knees up to her chest and leaning her chin on her knees.

"What am I going to do...?" Ember whispered.

She didn't see any other option but to go seek council from Cybele. She had a feeling that she was going to get a massive telling off from Cybele, but she didn't care, she had to get advice. She didn't want to leave Caleb on his own, but Ember didn't have another choice.

She scrambled to her feet and sneaked out of the lair. Once Ember had left the lair, she started sprinting over to Cybele's hideout as fast as she could. It was the fastest she had ever run in her entire life and she got there within 3 minutes of leaving the lair.

"Cybele!" Ember yelled as she jumped of the steps. "Cybele, please, I need your help!"

"Ember, what's wrong?" Cybele asked as she appeared.

"Please, you've got to help me!" Ember yelled, feeling panic surging through her body. "We've got to do something."

"Ember, calm down." Cybele said firmly but kindly. "Take a few deep breaths."

Ember forced herself to relax and took a few deep breaths before looking up at Cybele.

"Cybele, I don't know what to do." Ember said.

"Ember, I can't help you if you don't start at the beginning." Cybele said.

"Alright." Ember said impatiently. "We thought that we'd test a theory to see whether there were Aliens here on FutureGate. So we built a scanner and went to test it. We found out that Caleb's cybernetics are of an Alien make so we knew that the scanner was working properly. We got this signal and..."

"Ember, slow down." Cybele said.

"We got this signal." Ember said, forcing herself to slow down. "So we went to follow it, but we got to a dead end. Caleb told me to follow him and we got to this closed door, I went inside as Caleb wasn't responding to anything and I met this Alien man."

"What race was he?" Cybele asked.

"An Elder." Ember replied. "But that's not the point. The point is that he can control Caleb through his cybernetics and he can make the cybernetics stop working properly."

"Ember, do you know this Alien's name?" Cybele asked. "It's very important that you tell me."

"He refused to tell me his name." Ember replied. "Cybele, this isn't the point. The Alien made Caleb sick again."

"He did what?" Cybele demanded.

"He made Caleb sick." Ember repeated. "Unless I tell him where you're hiding, he won't reactivate Caleb's cyberentics. Cybele, I don't know what to do! It's my fault that Caleb's sick again."

"Why would it be your fault?" Cybele asked.

"I refused to tell it where you're hiding out!" Ember replied. "And I cut it with a knife to defend myself."

"Ember, you did the right thing." Cybele stated. "This man is dangerous, more dangerous that you can possibly imagine."

"I don't know what I'm supposed to do!" Ember said. "I can't tell him where you are, but I've got to do something to help Caleb!"

"You're right." Cybele replied. "You can't tell him where I am, the consequences could be disastrous."

"I know!" Ember replied. "The Alien said that Neuros was his creation."

"He did help in creating Neuros." Cybele said. "He's right about that."

"How though?" Ember asked.

"I do not know." Cybele replied. "But that isn't important. Right now you have got to focus on Caleb."

"But I..." Ember started.

"Ember." Cybele interrupted firmly. "Caleb is your priority from now on. "

"But..." Ember tried to argue.

"He can't be alone during this." Cybele interrupted again.

"I can't just sit there and not do anything, Laura!" Ember yelled.

Ember fell silent when she realized what she'd just said.

"What did you just call me?" Cybele asked.

"I... called you Laura..." Ember said quietly.

"Ember, you have to look after my son." Cybele said, confirming Ember's suspicions. "I am not able to do so myself, so it's down to you. I will find a solution to this problem; meanwhile you have to take care of Caleb."

"How?" Ember asked.

"The only thing you can do is make sure the fever doesn't get worse." Cybele replied.

"There must be something else I can do!" Ember exclaimed.

"I'm sorry, that is all you can do for now." Cybele replied. "Come back here tomorrow evening, hopefully I will found a solution by then. Take care of my son, Ember."

"I'll do my best, Cybele." Ember nodded.

Without saying anything else, Cybele disappeared and Ember ran back up the steps before sprinting back to the lair, only stopping when she'd reached it. As soon as she stepped into the lair, she rushed into the sleeping quarters and went to check if Caleb was still sleeping. When she saw that he was, she made that the blanket was still covering him before she went into the bath/storage room to get a bowl of water and a small towel.

Ember went back into the sleeping quarters and sat down beside Caleb after putting the bowl down and put the towel into it. After wringing it out, she put the towel on Caleb's forehead, hoping that it would do something about the fever or make sure that it wouldn't get any worse at any rate.

"I'm so sorry Caleb..." Ember whispered. "This is all my fault... this shouldn't have happened to you..."

She reached out and put her hand on Caleb's cheek only to feel that he was burning up.

"Bugger..." Ember whispered as Caleb leaned into her touch.

"Mum." Caleb whispered in his sleep. "It's alright..."

Ember didn't know what Caleb was dreaming, but she just hoped that it didn't turn into one of his nightmares.

In the end, Ember decided to risk a quick trip to the medical lab to see whether she could find something that resembled icepacks. She literally sprinted the whole way to the medical lab and back after finding gel packs that turned ice cold after breaking a small tube with a chemical in it that reacted with the gel inside the icepack. After sprinting back to the lair and stepping into the sleeping quarters, she found Caleb was stuck in one of his nightmares.

"No!" he screamed. "Mum! Get of her!"

"Oh bugger." Ember swore, dropping the bag she'd taken with her before running over to Caleb and dropping down beside him. "Caleb! It's alright! You're having a nightmare!"

"Get off!" Caleb yelled when Ember had grabbed hold of him. "Mum! Help me! Mum, please!"

"Caleb!" Ember yelled. "Wake up!"

Caleb jumped awake and as soon as he had, he sat bolt upright, straight into Ember's waiting arms. She locked them tightly around him to make sure he couldn't hurt himself, but Caleb only ended up panicking at this and started to fight Ember as hard as he could.

"Caleb, it's alright." Ember said. "You're safe!"

Ember grimaced as she felt Caleb hitting her back in an attempt to fight his way to freedom before he finally calmed down and relaxed in Ember's arms.

"It's alright." Ember said Caleb started to sob. "I've got you, you're safe."

"It felt so real." Caleb sobbed.

"I know." Ember replied. "You're safe, Caleb, it's alright."

Ember ended up sitting with Caleb for the remainder of the evening and attempting to soothe Caleb back to sleep.

**And that's it for chapter 8.**

**hope it was worth the wait! i'll try to get the next chapter up ASAP.**

**X Abby**


	8. Chapter 8

**Hiya!**

**Thanks to everyone for the reviews! I managed to find some time to get chapter 8 up, so hope you enjoy it!**

**Chapter 8: Confrontations**

By the time that Ember managed to get Caleb back to sleep again, the sun had started to come up and Ember felt exhausted. Just when she wanted to get some sleep, she heard the door of the lair opening, making her jump to her feet and rush out into the main room to find that it was the Alien. This time, the Alien had a small sheet of metal covering his face where Ember had cut him. It seemed like that the description in the mainframe was really accurate when it came to the Elders.

"You." Ember hissed, pulling out her knife and flicking it open. "What the hell are you doing here?"

"I came to see how the boy is doing." The man replied. "And to see whether you changed your mind on telling me where Cybele is yet."

"I don't know where she is." Ember replied firmly. "Come anywhere near Caleb and I'll kill you."

"So much anger." The man shook his head. "Killing me won't do the boy much good. You need me to cure him."

Ember considered the thought for a few moments before glaring at the man again.

"Don't you get anywhere near him." Ember repeated. "I swear you'll regret it if you do."

"I don't think you understand the gravity of the situation you're in, Ember." The man said.

"I understand perfectly." Ember stated.

"Do you?" the man asked as he picked up the rig Ember had set up to charge her laptop and examining it for a few moments. "As I understand it, you and Cybele don't get along all that well, so why go through the trouble to protect her while you know that it might end up killing the boy?"

"Stop calling him that." Ember hissed. "Caleb's more of a man than you'll ever be. He doesn't have to resort to threatening people to get a job done."

"The boy is still a child." The man stated. "There's no reason to call him something else. Anyway, you didn't answer me. Why go through the trouble to protect Cybele while it could end up killing the boy?"

"None of your business" Ember insisted. "I don't know where she is."

"When will you give up the lie?" the man asked.

"I'm not lying about anything." Ember lied. "Get the hell out of here."

"No." the man replied. "Not before I've seen the boy."

"Not gonna happen." Ember replied, raising the knife when the Alien stepped forward.

"I've told you before Ember, that thing can't hurt me." The man chuckled.

"I don't care; you're not coming near Caleb." Ember replied. "Not while I'm still here."

Ember watched as the Alien smirked at her before starting to walk towards her. Ember waited until the last second before lashing out at the Alien with the knife. She tried to stab the knife into the Alien, but as soon as the knife hit the Alien's chest, the tip ended up breaking off.

"What the hell…." Ember gasped as she stepped back, staring at the now broken knife.

"I told you, that thing won't do you much good." The man smirked as he pulled the tip of the knife out of his shirt.

Ember stared at the broken tip of her knife for a few seconds longer before swinging it at the Alien's face. Before she could cut the Alien, it had grabbed hold of her wrist and somehow it managed to get the knife out of Ember's hand and put it against her throat. Ember went completely still as soon as she felt the knife pressing against her skin, knowing that if she made one wrong move she'd be dead.

"It doesn't have to be like this, Ember." The man stated. "Just tell me where I can find Cybele and it'll all be over. I'll stop the disease from spreading in the boy."

"Why would you?" Ember asked. "You know that Arkon and Neuros wanted to destroy Caleb, you probably gave the order to do so."

"I didn't want the boy dead." The man replied. "I wanted him to join me. Arkon and Neuros defied my orders."

"Caleb will never join with you." Ember stated.

"We'll see about that." The man smirked.

Ember could've sworn that she felt the Alien slip something into the pocket of her jumpsuit, but before she could check, the Alien dropped the knife from Ember's throat. Just as she was about to fight back, it had grabbed hold of her vest and slammed her back against the wall, making Ember cry out in pain as her back hit the wall exactly where the bruises that Caleb had caused were.

"You're only making things harder on yourself, Ember." The man smirked. "Why not take the easy route and just tell me what I want to know?"

"Screw you." Ember replied defiantly.

She calmly watched as the smirk faded from the man's face before his face turned to pure hatred.

"You will regret this, Ember." The man said.

"I doubt it." Ember replied calmly. "I've never regretted any of my choices, I'm not about to start now."

Ember was severely hoping that she was sounding a lot braver than she actually felt, but most of all she hoped that the man was buying her lies. She was actually lying; she had regretted a lot of her decisions since she'd arrived on FutureGate. The main one being causing Caleb to become sick with that mystery illness again.

"Ignorant child." The man spat.

Ember cried out when the man struck her across the face before letting her drop to the ground.

"One day you will make a mistake that you can't put right." The man said as Ember put her hand against her cheek where the Alien had hit her. "Mark my words, Ember Tennant."

"Maybe, but you won't live to see it." Ember spat. "I'll make sure of that."

"You still think you can defeat me, don't you?" the Alien laughed. "Me, Upa Gup, the greatest Elder who ever lived?"

"Yeah, I do still think that." Ember replied. "You don't know everything about the human race. No matter what anyone or anything throws at us, we'll beat it."

"I doubt that, little girl." Upa replied.

Without a single warning, Upa kicked Ember in the stomach. Ember gasped as she felt the breath being knocked out of her and she fell sideways onto the ground as she pulled her knees to her chest because of the pain.

"Think carefully about your decisions, Ember." Upa said. "I will be back tomorrow."

Ember watched through tear-filled eyes as Upa left the lair and the door slammed shut behind him.

"Ember?" Caleb called weakly from the sleeping quarters.

"I'm here!" Ember replied between gasps. "I'll be there in a minute."

Ember blinked the tears from her eyes as fast as she could as she tried to get her breath back. It took her a few moments, but when she had her breath back, she forced herself to her feet, trying to ignore the pain in her stomach as she did. She straightened up as much as she could and walked back into sleeping quarters to find that Caleb was awake.

"Hey." Ember smiled as she tried to hide the pain she felt as she kneeled down beside him. "How are you feeling?"

"Hot." Caleb complained as he grimaced. "And thirsty."

"Alright." Ember nodded before smiling slightly. "Let's fix that, shall we?"

Ember reached over and grabbed a bottle of water before unscrewing the cap of it.

"Can you drink yourself?" Ember asked. "Or do you need help?"

"Help would be nice." Caleb admitted.

Ember nodded and helped Caleb sit up before moving to sit behind him so he could lean back against her before handing him the bottle of water. Ember felt like finding Upa and killing him when she felt how warm Caleb felt to the touch. He was almost literally burning up, his t-shirt was already getting soaked through and Ember knew that the sooner he got into a dry shirt, the better it would be for him. When Caleb was done drinking, Ember took the bottle from him and put it aside without bothering to screw the cap back on, seeing that Caleb had downed the entire bottle.

"Ember?" Caleb asked as Ember absently ran her hand through his short hair.

"Hmm?" Ember murmured, wondering what kind of question Caleb could ask.

"Am I going to die?" Caleb asked.

Ember bit her lip and closed her eyes or a few moments. She hadn't expected that question at all.

"Of course not." Ember replied, hoping she sounded more confident than she felt at that moment. "You're not going to die, don't be silly."

"It feels like I am..." Caleb whispered.

"You're not going to die, Caleb." Ember said softly but firmly. "Not while I'm here... I'm going to make you better, I promise you."

Ember pressed a soft kiss against Caleb's left temple as she hugged him tightly to her. The biggest fear that Ember had was Caleb dying, she wanted to avoid that at all costs, but she didn't know how to do that. She hoped that Cybele had an idea of what to do, because Ember was at a total loss.

"Ember?" Caleb asked.

"Yeah?" Ember replied.

"I'm tired." Caleb stated.

Ember nodded and helped Caleb lie down again before pulling the blanket up over him again.

"Here." Ember said, grabbing one of the gel packs. "This will help."

After breaking the small tube with the activating chemical, Ember felt the gel pack becoming ice cold in her hands and after wrapping it in a towel, she carefully put the icepack underneath Caleb's neck. She knew that the ice pack was doing its job as Caleb sighed in relief.

"Try to sleep, okay?" Ember asked as she put her hand against Caleb's cheek. "I'll be here when you wake up."

Caleb nodded before closing his eyes. Ember sat back and watched as Caleb fell asleep before lying down herself. She figured that seeing as Caleb wasn't going to wake up any time soon, it would be safe for her to get a few hours of sleep before she had to go visit Cybele. Having been awake over 24 hours was taking its toll on Ember's body and she knew that she'd be better of grabbing one of the thin mattresses and pull it over to Caleb's bed, but now she was lying down, she didn't want to get up. She turned onto her side to face Caleb and folded one of her arms underneath her head to serve as a pillow before closing her eyes.

When Ember opened her eyes again, the first thing she did was look over at Caleb to see whether he was still sleeping or not. When she found the he was still sleeping peacefully, Ember let herself relax a little before glancing over to the window to find that the sun was starting to set.

"Bugger..." Ember whispered, running a hand through her hair.

As she started to climb to her feet, she grimaced a little as her muscles protested against the action. It didn't help matters that her stomach felt like someone had beaten it with a sledge hammer.

"Bugger." Ember repeated softly.

She crouched down beside Caleb again to check the icepack and when she found that it was still freezing cold, she walked out of the sleeping quarters as she felt her stomach protesting against being empty. Ember sat down at one of the workbenches and grabbed a sandwich from the food bag. She didn't feel hungry at all, but she knew that she'd be no good to Caleb if she got sick herself, so Ember forced herself to eat.

After eating, Ember put her hand into her pockets to check if her suspicions about Upa having slipped something into her pocket was true and after pulling her hand out of her pocket, she came up with a tiny device that had a red blinking light on it.

"Bloody hell..." Ember said as she realized what the thing was. "That sneaky git."

The device was a tracking device. Upa clearly thought that Ember was going to visit Cybele at some point.

"Bloody, arrogant, annoying, murdering git!" Ember fumed quietly.

After a few moments of thought, Ember decided that the best thing to do was to toss the tracker off FutureGate before she went to visit Cybele. After checking again that Caleb was asleep, Ember left the lair. She ran as fast as she could to the outer decks and once she stepped outside, she took a deep breath of fresh sea air before walking to the edge of the deck. She looked down at the device in her hand for a few moments before throwing it as hard as she could towards the open waters. As soon as she'd seen the device disappearing into the water, Ember went back into FutureGate and started running over to Cybele's hideout.

"Cybele?" Ember asked as soon as she'd jumped of the bottom step. "Cybele, I'm here."

Ember watched as Cybele appeared and she could see that she was concerned.

"Ember, how is Caleb?" Cybele asked.

"He's okay for now." Ember replied. "He's sleeping. The fever isn't going down though."

"That was to be expected." Cybele said sadly.

"Cybele, I found out what the Alien's name is." Ember said. "It's Upa Gup. He told me."

"Upa Gup?" Cybele repeated. "Are you sure?"

"Positive." Ember nodded. "Why? Do you know him?"

"Yes, I do." Cybele replied. "He's a dangerous man."

"I know." Ember replied, rubbing her throat a little at the memory of having a knife there. "What do I do, Cybele?"

"You have to tell Upa where I am hiding out." Cybele replied.

"What?" Ember exclaimed, her eyes widening with shock. "No! Cybele I can't do that! What about Caleb? He needs you!"

"Let me finish." Cybele said calmly. "You're going to tell Upa a fake location."

"A fake location?" Ember repeated. "What good will that do?"

"If I know Upa, he will rush to find this place." Cybele continued. "While he is gone, you're going to load a virus into his computers. This should put an end to Caleb's sickness and Upa's plans."

"What do I do about Upa himself?" Ember asked.

"Normally I would never ask this of someone, but you have to end him, Ember." Cybele stated. "permanently. It's in the best interest for all of us."

Ember swallowed hard for a moment before nodding silently. The last thing she wanted to do was become a murderer and get someone's blood on her hands, but if that what it took to stop Upa from hurting anyone, then she'd have to do it no matter what.

**So that's it for chapter 8.**

**Hope you enjoyed it! I can't say when the next one will be up, but it will be ASAP!**

**X Abby**


	9. Chapter 9

**Hiya, sorry that's it taken me so long to update, to make it up, I'm posting 2 chapters tonight.**

**Hope you enjoy them!**

**Chapter 9: Cybele's plan.**

After Cybele had revealed that Ember would have to kill Upa, she had sat down on the steps to listen to the remainder of Cybele's plan. She revealed exactly how Upa had to be killed for it to be successful. Ember listened to Cybele talking, not allowing her mind to wander to be able to take in every detail to make sure that she would be doing it right.

"Have you understood all of that?" Cybele asked once she was finished.

"Yeah, got it." Ember repeated.

"Repeat it back to me." Cybele replied.

"Simply stabbing Upa won't be enough." Ember repeated. "He's got a cybernetic chest. It's going to be hard to kill him. So I either have to lure him up to the outer decks to drown him, stab him in the back or slice his throat. I'll go for the drowning option though... easier to dispose of his body that way... I can't believe I'm actually planning a murder..."

"Excellent." Cybele said approvingly. "Ember, you have to understand, I wouldn't ask this of you if there was no other way."

"I understand perfectly, Cybele." Ember nodded. "I'm just glad that you're asking me to do this and not Caleb."

"I can't ask this of Caleb." Cybele admitted. "I have asked too much of him already."

"It's alright." Ember smiled slightly. "I'll take care of Upa, if all goes well, Caleb doesn't even have to know that he existed."

"Thank you, Ember." Cybele said. "There is one other thing I have to tell you."

"What's that?" Ember asked.

"It's about Caleb's memories." Cybele said.

"What about Caleb's memories?" Ember asked. "He's not going to lose them, is he?"

"That's what I'm afraid off." Cybele admitted.

Ember stared at the computer for a moment before looking back down at the ground.

"How much will he remember?" Ember asked quietly.

"That I do not know." Cybele replied. "It could be that he remembers everything that's happened, it could be that he only remembers defeating Neuros and Arkon or nothing at all."

"So he won't even remember me?" Ember asked, looking up at Cybele.

"Probably not." Cybele replied. "Ember, if it turns out that Caleb doesn't remember you, it is for the best that he doesn't find out who you are."

"Why not?" Ember asked.

"Saying goodbye will hurt less this way." Cybele replied. "Maybe not for you, but for Caleb it will."

"What do you mean?" Ember asked.

"After you left, Caleb came here to tell me you had gone." Cybele replied. "He told me how much it hurt and how much he wished you could stay. He really missed you, Ember."

Ember looked back down at the ground and tried to blink the tears out of her eyes. In her opinion, this wasn't fair at all.

"I'm sorry." Cybele offered.

"No, it's okay." Ember shook her head. "You're right, it's better this way... I mean, we both want the best for Caleb..."

Even though it probably was for the best, Ember didn't feel that it was fair at all.

"I should get going..." Ember said. "Put the plan into action..."

"You're right." Cybele agreed. "Take the disk; it contains the virus I've written."

Ember watched as a disk slid out of a disk drive of a nearby computer console which she then took and slid into her pocket.

"Are you certain you are ready for this?" Cybele asked.

"As ready as I'll ever be." Ember nodded as she started climbing up the steps. "if Caleb does happen to lose his memories of me, I'll tell him I'm called Ruby."

"I understand." Cybele said before Ember walked out of the room. "and Ember?"

"Yes?" Ember asked, turning back to face Cybele.

"Be careful." Cybele said.

"I will." Ember nodded before leaving the hide out.

Ember ran back to the lair to go check on Caleb first before she went to take care of Upa. As soon as Ember stepped into the lair, she could hear Caleb yelling, making Ember break out into a run and burst into the sleeping quarters to find that Upa was standing in the room. Caleb was trying to scramble away from Upa, but he wasn't really managing that feat.

"Hey!" Ember yelled. "Get the hell away from him!"

She rushed over to Upa and grabbed hold of one of his cybernetic arms before pulling him away from Caleb.

"You stay the hell away from him." Ember warned, shoving Upa away with all her strength. "I swear to God..."

"What are you and your God going to do?" Upa challenged barely stumbling.

"you'll find out if you don't get the hell out of here." Ember hissed. "Alright." Upa smirked before looking at Caleb. "This isn't over, boy."

"I think it is." Ember replied. "Get the hell out."

Ember stood watching as Upa smirked again before walking out of the sleeping quarters. She waited until she heard the door of the lair closing before turning to Caleb, who was starting to calm down a little bit.

"It's okay." Ember said, kneeling down beside him. "You're safe now... I'm so sorry, I shouldn't have left."

"What was that?" Caleb asked, sounding and looking like a scared boy. "It didn't look human..."

Ember frowned a little before realizing that the memory loss was probably starting to take effect already.

"That was... a bad man." Ember replied. "It's okay, Caleb, you're safe now. Come on; let's get you back to bed."

Ember pulled Caleb's arm over her shoulders before helping him to his feet. Seeing that Caleb was weak, he leaned his full weight on Ember and Ember tried not to show that she almost couldn't manage it.

"There we are." Ember said once she had Caleb sitting on his bed. "what did he want?"

"he wanted me to join him or something..." Caleb said slowly before he started to stare at Ember.

"what?" Ember asked.

"Who are you?" Caleb asked.

Ember stared at Caleb for a few moments and tried not to let her tears show. She hadn't expected that he would forget about her already. It took her a while to remember Cybele's words, but by the time she had, Caleb was giving her a questioning look.

"Well?" Caleb asked, his voice having a demanding tone to it despite the fact that he was sounding weak. "Who are you?"

"Ruby." Ember said quickly. "Remember? I'm one of your recruits."

"You are?" Caleb repeated.

"Yeah, I am." Ember lied.

Even though it hurt so badly to lie to Caleb, she knew that it was the right thing to do to keep him from getting hurt by the time that Ember would have to go home. Ember just hoped that she didn't have to go through the motions of telling Caleb who his mother was again.

"You're old." Caleb stated.

"You said that when we first met." Ember said, smiling at the memory.

"I can't remember." Caleb stated.

"I can." Ember replied. "You should rest, Caleb."

"Don't have time for that." Caleb stated as he started to sit up. "There's so much we have to do."

"That can wait." Ember stated, pushing Caleb back down on his bed. "You need to get better first."

It was clear to Ember that she wasn't looking at Caleb her best friend but at the distance, Resistance Leader Caleb.

"There's too much we have to do." Caleb said, trying to sit up again.

"No, you're still sick." Ember replied, pushing Caleb back down again. "You need to get better before you can do any of the things you've got planned."

"I am the leader of the resistance; I can't lie in bed all day." Caleb insisted.

"I'm sorry; right now I wouldn't care if you were the queen of England." Ember said firmly. "You're not getting out of that bed until you're better. Neuros and Arkon are defeated, so you've got the time to get better first."

Ember had to keep her expression schooled when she saw that Caleb started to sulk.

"Get some sleep alright?" Ember said. "It'll do you good."

That's all Caleb seemed to do in the past 24 hours... and Ember hated it. She missed the times where they would just run around FutureGate in search of Aliens or even to get away from a couple of Roboidz or even Shades. Ember knew that she'd better get used to it if Caleb had lost all his memories of her. She watched as Caleb sighed deeply before closing his eyes. it didn't take more than a few minutes for him to fall asleep and when he had, Ember reached out and put her hand against Caleb's forehead to find that the fever was starting to break a little, but for Ember it wasn't enough at all. She sighed as she removed her hand before sitting back to look at Caleb. She was aware of the fact that she maybe wouldn't survive the upcoming fight and it made her nervous, especially seeing as she wouldn't be fighting at Caleb's side when they'd gone up against Arkon and Neuros. Even if she did manage to defeat Upa, she didn't know how Caleb would react if he ever found out that Ember actually killed a person.

"I'm so sorry about everything." Ember whispered softly. "I hope you can forgive me for what I'm about to do if you ever find out..."

Ember leaned forward and pressed a soft kiss against Caleb's forehead. Caleb stirred a little at the touch, but he didn't wake up. Ember reached out and carefully slipped the necklace she'd given to Caleb up over his head and put it in the breast pocket of her vest. She felt that if he had forgotten everything about Caleb, she'd better erase anything that had to do with her. She sighed deeply as she got to her feet and started walking towards the door. Once she got to the door, she glanced back at Caleb one last time before stepping through the door. She walked out of the lair and started heading towards where Upa's hideout was.

Maybe 15 minutes later, Ember was standing in front of the door that lead into Upa's base and she had to take a few calming breaths before pushing the door open and stepping through it. She really hoped that Cybele's plan was going to work, if not, there would be no telling what Upa would do next.

"Upa!" Ember yelled as the door slammed shut behind her. "Show yourself!"

Ember came to a halt in the middle of the room and looked around at the shadows until she saw something moving in them.

"Hello Ember." Upa said as he stepped out of the shadows, looking smug. "Changed your mind?"

"Maybe." Ember replied. "First I want a guarantee."

"Of what?" Upa asked.

"You'll make sure that Caleb get's better before I tell you where you can find Cybele." Ember stated.

"You have my word." Upa smiled.

"That's not good enough." Ember stated. "You restore Caleb's cybernetics here and now before I tell you anything."

"Well, if you insist." Upa nodded.

Ember watched as Upa turned to one of his computers before typing in a few commands which looked to be the same ones he'd pressed to deactivate Caleb's cybernetics but in another sequence.

"it's done." Upa stated. "Now, tell me where I can find Cybele."

"Deck 8, section 13." Ember replied.

"Thank you Ember." Upa said. "You know, you could join me. Be at my side as we rule the world."

"You really think I'm that stupid?" Ember replied. "I'd rather die."

"Too bad." Upa sighed. "Unfortunately, in light of your choice, I'll have to kill you now."

Ember watched as Upa pulled out something that looked like a small blaster gun which he aimed at her. Acting on pure instinct, Ember dived out of the line of fire behind one of the computer consoles just before the laser bolt hit the console.

"You're only delaying the evitable, Ember." Upa stated as Ember leaned back against the console.

"Maybe you should take some target practice before you try to shoot someone." Ember shot back.

She glanced in the direction of the door for a few moments, before deciding

to take the risk and make a break for it. Ember started sprinting at the door and ducked as Upa fired his blaster at her again. She burst through the door and immediately started to sprint down the corridors as fast as she could before ducking into an alcove. She stepped back into the shadows as far as she could and tried to slow her breathing down as she heard running footsteps coming down the gantry. A few moments later, Ember saw Upa running past her hiding place. As soon as she heard the footsteps disappearing into the distance, Ember slowly left the alcove and after

checking that Upa was truly out of sight, she smirked.

"idiot." She smirked. "oldest trick in the book."

She started sprinting back to Upa's base of operations. When she got there, she shoved the door open and stepped into the room. She walked straight over to the computer consoles and she grimaced a little when she smelt burnt plastic as she glanced at the console which Upa's shot had hit. It really had been a close call... a few more inches to the left and Upa would've killed her.

Ember shook those thoughts off as she started looking at the consoles in search of something that looked like a CD ROM drive.

"Jackpot." Ember said when she found what she was looking for.

She pulled the disk that Cybele had given her from her pocket and fed it into the slot.

"See how you like this, you evil git." Ember said to herself as the console accepted the disk.

Ember stood back as she watched the screen turn blood red and she knew that that could only mean one thing. The virus was being accepted into the system. The consequences of the virus being accepted happened instantly, the consoles started sparking as the systems short circuited and Ember decided that it was for the best to flee from the room before any explosions had a chance to go off.


	10. Chapter 10

**Chapter 10: Down Goes Another One**

Ember ran from Upa's hide out as fast as she could and started running to deck 8 to finish what she'd set out to do. Neither Caleb nor Cybele would be safe until Upa was gone. Although the situation was now extra dangerous, Ember couldn't think about anything else but stopping Upa.

As soon as she arrived on deck 8, Ember slowed down and kept her footsteps as silent as she could so Upa couldn't hear her coming. She didn't know what she was going to do once she had found Upa, seeing he had a blaster and she was weaponless, but she figured that she'd just have to make up a plan as she went along. Even before Ember heard the footsteps behind her, she knew that Upa had somehow snuck up behind her and she span around to find that Upa was indeed standing behind her and he already had the blaster aimed at her.

"Where is Cybele?" Upa demanded.

"Wouldn't you like to know?" Ember replied. "Did you really think I'd betray a friend, just like that?"

"Fine, I'll just turn the boy's cybernetics off again." Upa said.

"With what computer?" Ember smirked. "Maybe next time you should lock your base. You see, it was very easy for me to go back after you lost my trail and slip a virus into your computers. By now the entire system should be fried."

"You impudent, snot nosed little girl." Upa practically growled. "You will pay for this."

"No, you will pay." Ember replied. "For everyone's death you caused and for what you did to Caleb."

"What were you going to do?" Upa laughed. "Stab me again?"

"Trust me; your death is going to be a lot more painful than a simple stab wound." Ember smirked dangerously feeling hatred boiling in her blood.

"You won't kill me." Upa said smugly. "You lack the courage to kill someone."

"We'll see about that." Ember replied, still smirking at Upa.

"You will die first." Upa said.

Ember watched as his finger tightened around the trigger of his blaster, but before he could fire it, Ember grabbed hold of a switch that was close to her and pulled it.

Before Upa had been able to sneak up on Ember, she had found out that she was standing closer to a vent system that released hot steam when you pulled a lever. Seeing as Upa was standing right underneath the vent, Ember figured that it was the best way to buy herself a little time to be able to lead Upa up to the outer deck.

Ember ducked when the blaster did fire a round while Upa started to scream in pain.

"Still think you're so clever?" Ember yelled. "Come and get me, you Alien bastard!"

Ember waited until she was sure that Upa was going to follow her before she started to run away from him as fast as she could to lead him out onto the decks.

As soon as Ember reached the decks, she grabbed a metal bar that she had put down close to the door and stood back, waiting for Upa to appear. As soon as she heard footsteps coming closer, Ember raised the bar. When she saw Upa's arm that held the blaster, Ember swung it down as hard as she could. As the bar hit the arm, Upa dropped the blaster and Ember swung it again, this time hitting the Alien in the face and making him stumble back. Ember dropped the bar, she snatched the blaster up from the ground and ran over to the edge of the deck before tossing the blaster as far as she could into the water as she knew that it wouldn't work against Upa anyway. She watched the blaster drop into the water for a few moments before turning back to face Upa, who was looking beyond pissed off.

"You have disturbed my plans long enough, Ember Tennant." Upa said.

"I'm just getting started." Ember smirked.

"See, I think you're wrong about that." Upa smirked back at her. "Because I've got one more card up my sleeve."

"Oh yeah?" Ember challenged. "Well? Bring it bastard."

Ember watched as Upa smirked before stepping aside from the door as he stuck his hand in his pocket and pulled out a small device. Ember watched as she could see something moving in the shadow just inside the door and when the person stepped into the light, Ember gasped when she saw that it was Caleb.

"Oh no..." Ember whispered.

"You forget that I have control of the boy." Upa said smugly as Caleb stopped beside him. "I can make him do anything I want, including kill you."

"You bastard!" Ember yelled as Upa put his hand on Caleb's shoulder. "Leave Caleb out of this!"

"No." Upa smiled evilly. "Boy, kill her."

Ember watched as Caleb silently looked over at Upa before nodding at him. He then turned to look at Ember and she couldn't help but shudder when she saw the pure hatred in Caleb's eyes as he looked at her.

"Caleb, you don't want to do this." Ember said, stepping back as Caleb walked over to her. "It's me, Ember."

"He can't hear you." Upa laughed. "He only listens to me."

"Caleb, listen to me." Ember tried again. "It's me, Ember, I'm your friend, remember? I helped you defeat Neuros and Arkon."

Ember had to duck when Caleb tried to hit her with his cybernetic arm. She wanted to avoid being hit with that at all costs. She didn't know what to do at all at that moment. She didn't want to hurt Caleb if she could help it, and even if she didn't have a choice but to do so, she didn't know if she could bring herself to do it.

"Caleb, stop it!" Ember yelled as she started back away from Caleb. "Please, you know me."

"Doesn't look like it." Upa laughed.

"You can shut up!" Ember yelled at him as she ducked out of the way again.

It didn't matter where Ember went to be able to get away from Caleb, he just followed her everywhere she went and each time he got close he tried to hit her with his cybernetic arm.

After a while of trying to get away from Caleb and dodging every punch he threw, Ember could feel herself getting tired and she knew that if she was going to win this thing that she'd have to take out Caleb first. She knew that she was going to regret this, but there was no choice in the matter.

"I'm really sorry about this..." Ember said as she picked up a metal pole. "I wish I didn't have to do this..."

Caleb of course didn't respond to this, and Ember shuddered a little at the glare he was giving her. Somewhere in the background, Ember could hear Upa starting to laugh with amusement as she gripped the pole in both hands, ready to attack Caleb. She didn't know how she was going to take Caleb out without hurting him though.

In the end, Ember decided that the best course of action was not to think about it that much and just do what she'd have to do to survive. As Caleb came at her again, Ember gripped the bar tightly in two hands and swung it as hard as she could. Instead of the bar hitting Caleb, Caleb grabbed hold of it and Ember watched as he started to squeeze, ending up in the pole being bent.

"Oh my god..." Ember whispered as Caleb yanked the bar from her hands.

She watched as Caleb tossed it aside before he turned to face her again. It was clear to see that because of Upa's control, he was intent on hurting her or even killing her. Ember stared at Caleb for a few more moments before deciding that she'd just have to fight back.

"Come on then!" Ember yelled. "Bring it on!"

Ember didn't know whether Caleb was actually listening to her or not, but he did start coming towards her again.

"Come on." Ember said to herself. "Let's do this."

The last thing she wanted to do was fight her friend, but there was just no other choice but to fight him. Ember ducked past another punch from Caleb again before getting an idea. She glanced up at his skull implant for a moment. If it was hooked up to his brain, maybe she could use that to her advantage. Although, if she did damage the implant, there was no telling what could happen.

"I'm so sorry..." Ember whispered.

Ember ducked past another punch from Caleb's cybernetic arm and picked up a wooden board from the ground. Without even thinking about it, as she knew she was going to talk herself out of it, Ember swung it as hard as she could at Caleb's head. The board hit Caleb's skull implant and she watched as Caleb put a hand to his skull implant for a few moments before he simply collapsed to the ground, as if some kind of switch had been flipped which had shut down Caleb's body completely. Ember gasped a little as she grabbed hold of Caleb just before his head managed to hit the deck.

"Caleb?" Ember asked. "Oh my god... Caleb!"

Ember panicked for just a split second before her first aid training kicked in. She ignored Upa's laughter as she pressed to fingers against Caleb's neck and she almost let out a sob of relief when she felt that there was a pulse.

"Thank god..." Ember whispered.

She couldn't even possibly imagine what she'd do if she had accidently killed Caleb. She just hoped now that the damage to Caleb's skull implant wouldn't be so bad that it couldn't be reversed anymore. She looked up when she heard Upa's laughter a lot closer than before, Upa was coming closer to her and Ember couldn't help the flash of fury that rushed through her veins. She carefully lowered Caleb's head to the ground before getting to her feet and picking up the board again.

"I am going to end you." Ember said.

She felt a little surprised at her own voice for a few moments. She was sounding calm, a lot calmer than she felt with all the hatred and anger that were rushing through her body.

"Come now Ember." Upa laughed. "You can't kill me."

"I can." Ember replied, her voice still sounding calm. "And I will. You've made the biggest mistake in your pitiful life!"

Ember swung the board as hard as she could and she felt a rush of satisfaction running through her body when the board made contact with Upa's arm. She got a short flashback back to Caleb's fight with Arkon when a shower of sparks erupted from Upa's arm. She was a little surprised when Upa cried out with pain, but then she realized that the cybernetics he had must've had pain sensors installed.

"Hurts doesn't it?" Ember yelled, feeling her anger taking over any other thought. "Serves you right for all the death you've caused!

She swung the bar again and this time she caught Upa in the face.

"For everything you did to Caleb!" she screamed the last part.

She watched as his head snapped to the side for a few moments before he turned to look at her again. The metal on the side of his face had been knocked loose and she didn't spare it a glance as it dropped to the ground. She was too busy staring at Upa's face. For a few moments Ember was reminded of some lame kids show that had a werewolf in it she'd once seen when she was little. She didn't remember what it was about exactly, but she did remember that there was some kind of creep with a half mask that had been knocked loose, revealing that he had terrible scarring on the covered side of his face.

This was exactly what had happened now. The cybernetics had been concealing horrendous scarring on the side of Upa's face, but he was also missing an eye, although tissue had grown back to cover his empty eye socket.

"Dude, you fugly." Ember quoted a line from a TV show without even thinking about it.

Although this line clearly got Upa angry as he lunged at her. Ember ducked aside and turned to watch Upa skid to a stop before turning to face her again.

"This will be the end for you, little girl." Upa said.

"Likewise." Ember stated, glaring at the Alien.

Ember watched as Upa tensed up to lunge at her again. What he hadn't noticed was that she'd positioned herself in front of the edge of the deck where a piece of the railing was missing. Knowing that she'd have to time it just right, she tensed her muscles to jump out of the way at the last second when Upa charged at her. What she hadn't expected was the brief distraction that came in the form of Caleb groaning as he started to wake up. In the second that Ember glanced over to look at him, Upa had reached her and tackled her. The tackle send both Upa and Ember over the edge of the deck and Ember wasn't even aware of the fact that she was falling until she felt her back hitting the water, sending pain flooding through it.

**So that was it for chapters 9 and 10. Hope you enjoyed them, sorry about the cliffhanger. I'll update as soon as I can, but real life is really getting in the way of me going behind my laptop. But yeah, I'll do my best to update regulairly from now on.**


	11. Chapter 11

**Hiya! Thanks for the reviews! Much appreciated:)**

**Enjoy chapter 11!**

**Chapter 11: Only the Strong Survive**

Just as Ember was about to cry out in pain as her back hit the water, the momentum of her fall dragged her underneath the water's surface and her first instinct at hitting the cold water was to gasp in a breath of air, but somehow she managed to keep her mouth closed and stop herself from gasping. She opened her eyes underneath the water and could see Upa's face right in front of her as she saw a set of cybernetic hands reaching for her neck. Acting on pure instinct, Ember kicked out underneath the water as hard as she could and kicked Upa away from her. When Upa was out of reach, Ember started to swim up as fast as she could.

As soon as Ember broke through the surface of the water, she gasped in a deep breath of air as she started treading water. Pain was still shooting through her back and Ember looked up at the deck of FutureGate to find that Caleb was standing on the edge of it, looking down into the water.

"Caleb!" Ember yelled. "Help me!"

"Hold on!" Caleb called down. "I'll get a rope!"

"Hurry up!" Ember yelled before Caleb disappeared.

The water was really cold and Ember could already feel her muscles starting to grow numb. For a moment Ember wondered if Upa had drowned already, but before she had the chance to consider that thought properly, she felt something grab hold of her ankle before it pulled her down. Ember barely had the time to get a proper breath of air before she was pulled underneath the water. She opened her eyes underwater to find that it was Upa; somehow he hadn't drowned yet while he had been underwater for longer that Ember had. Ember shoved Upa's arms away as hard as she could when he reached for her throat. Instead she punched at Upa as hard as she could and hit him in the stomach. She watched as a spray of air bubbles erupted from Upa's mouth and she saw that he started to inhale. As Upa started to swim up to the surface, Ember grabbed hold of him to keep him underneath the water, as soon as she reached him, she wrapped her arms around her throat and tightened her muscles so she couldn't be thrown off. Upa started to fight back, but he couldn't pull Ember off. Ember kept hold of him until she felt his body going limp. After a few more moments, Ember let go of Upa and instead of his body floating up towards the surface, his body started to sink, probably due to the weight of his cybernetics. She watched the body sink for a few more moments before realizing that her air was starting to run out, so she swam up towards the surface which she broke with a gasp for air.

"Hey!" Caleb's voice called, making Ember look up. "Grab the rope!"

Ember watched as Caleb tossed a rope down towards her. When the rope hit the water, Ember swam over it with difficulty due to muscle fatigue and tried to grab hold of the rope only to find that her hands wouldn't really comply.

"I can't!" Ember yelled.

"Tie it around your waist!" Caleb called down. "I'll pull you up!"

Ember nodded and tied the rope around her waist before looking up at Caleb as he disappeared from view. After a few seconds, she felt the rope tightening and it wasn't that long before she was pulled out of the water. Ember started to shiver by the time she was halfway up onto the deck and it didn't help matters that there was a cold wind blowing. When Ember reached the deck, she started to grab the edge of it only to feel that she didn't have any feelings in her fingers at all. They were completely and utterly numb so Ember ended up putting her arms up onto the deck and trying to pull herself up that way. She glanced up when she Caleb grabbed hold of her arms and pulled her up onto the deck.

"You okay?" Caleb asked. "Your hands and lips are turning blue."

"F-f-freezing..." Ember replied through clattering teeth as she hugged herself to stay warm.

"Come on; let's get you back to the lair." Caleb said, helping Ember to her feet.

Ember kept hugging herself as she started to follow Caleb back to the lair, but being dripping wet inside FutureGate didn't help matters all that much and in the end Ember felt her knees giving out from exhaustion because of the hypothermia which made her drop down onto the gantry.

"Hey." Caleb said, rushing back to her. "Hey, you okay?"

"'m tired." Ember whispered as Caleb helped her sit up. "And cold."

As if to prove the point, Ember started shivering again and her teeth started to clatter.

"Alright, come on." Caleb said.

The next thing that Ember knew, Caleb effortlessly picked her up. Ember rested her head against Caleb's shoulder and closed her eyes as Caleb was giving off a lot of heat. As Ember felt herself falling asleep, she wondered whether Caleb was still having a fever or not.

As Ember opened her eyes again she was feeling really warm and comfy. The numbness had disappeared from her feet and fingers. For a few moments Ember wondered what her mattress was made out of as it was nice and warm until she felt the mattress moving underneath her. She frowned for a moment before opening her eyes only to find that her mattress was in fact Caleb, who'd stripped down to his t-shirt.

"What the hell!" Ember exclaimed.

She bolted upright and pushed herself away from Caleb only to get her legs tangled in the blanket and trip up so she landed in a heap on the floor.

"What the hell!" Ember repeated. "why the hell did you let me use you as a mattress?"

"Cybele told me body heat was the fastest and safest way to warm someone with hypothermia up." Caleb replied.

As she looked down at herself she found that she was practically naked except for her underwear.

"What the hell!" Ember exclaimed again as she grabbed the blanket to cover herself.

"Cybele said I had to get you out of those wet clothes." Caleb replied, starting to turn slightly red. "I wouldn't have done it if there wasn't any other way though..."

Ember stared at Caleb for a few moments. The way that Caleb was talking to her made it clear that he didn't know who she was at all, which meant that the memory loss wasn't reversible unless Ember told him who she was. Although seeing as she and Cybele had agreed that would only hurt Caleb, Ember decided, no matter how much it hurt her, that she was going to keep her mouth shut.

Before she could ponder this situation, the fact that she was practically naked save for her underwear slapped her in the face and she felt herself becoming bright red.

"You don't just strip a girl just like that!" Ember exclaimed. "Doesn't matter if she's sick or not! You just can't do that!"

"I had to get you out of those wet clothes." Caleb replied, looking really uncomfortable. "Or you would've gotten sick."

"Oh my god, I can't believe this..." Ember whispered to herself as she managed to free her legs.

She wrapped the blanket around her body before walking out of the sleeping quarters to grab some clean clothes from her bag. Although when she saw that her resistance outfit was laid out to dry, she grabbed hold of it to see if it was dry. When she found that it was, she quickly pulled on the jumpsuit. As she zipped it up, Caleb came out of the sleeping quarters, this time wearing his hoodie and leather jacket.

"How do you feel?" Caleb asked, crossing his arms over his chest as he watched Ember pull on her boots and lacing them up.

"Fine." Ember lied.

The truth was that she didn't feel fine at all; she was feeling hurt and extremely guilty. The hurt part was because of Caleb not remembering who she was and the guilt was because she'd killed a person. She didn't know whether Caleb knew she was lying or not, but as long as he didn't bring up the subject of Upa, she wasn't going to tell him about it. Although she did make sure to avoid looking him in the eye in case her eyes decided to betray her and reveal some of the emotions she was feeling. What she hadn't expected was that Caleb came up behind her and when he put a hand on her shoulder, Ember jumped and turned to face him, only realizing her mistake too late.

"Are you okay?" Caleb repeated, looking Ember straight in the eyes.

"Fine." Ember lied as she ran her hand through her hair only to feel that it was really greasy thanks to the sea water. "Alright, I'm going to wash my hair..."

"Wait." Caleb said as Ember dug around into her backpack. "I..."

Ember looked up from her bag and raised an eyebrow when Caleb let the sentence trail.

"You...?" She asked, her tone encouraging Caleb to go on.

"I can't remember your name." Caleb admitted, looking ashamed of himself.

"That's probably because of the fever you had." Ember lied. "It's Ruby, remember?"

"Ruby?" Caleb repeated.

"That's me." Ember smiled.

"Alright, Ruby." Caleb grinned.

Ember smiled back just as she found the shampoo for her hair. Seeing as she was sure that her smile had come off as fake, Ember disappeared into the bathroom/storage room and started washing her hair. When she was done and had made sure that the dirty water was gone, she rinsed the bowl for any remaining shampoo leftovers before starting to dry her hair.

"Ruby?" Caleb called from the main room of the lair.

"What?" Ember called back, suppressing a sigh.

"Why did you bring this much stuff?" Caleb asked as Ember stepped out into the main room of the lair.

"Because you asked me to stay longer to help rebuild." Ember lied. "So you sent me back so I could pick up some stuff then got me back here. Remember?"

"Are you sure?" Caleb asked. "I would remember all of that."

"The fever probably messed with your skull implant." Ember lied. "It'll probably come back to you sooner or later."

In reality Ember wondered if the blow to the head she'd given Caleb had caused the loss of some memories.

"So you were the recruit who helped me get rid of Neuros and Arkon?" Caleb asked.

Ember just nodded as she put her shampoo back into her bag. Of all the things that Caleb could remember it had to be that.

"Yup." Ember said as she grabbed her hair brush. "That was me."

"Oh..." Caleb said thoughtfully as Ember started to brush her hair.

Ember glanced at Caleb to find that he was seriously thinking about what Ember had said. Ember stayed silent as she finished brushing her hair and pulled it back into a wet braid before turning to face Caleb.

"I've got to go talk to Cybele." Ember announced.

"You know Cybele?" Caleb asked.

"Yes, you introduced me to her." Ember replied. "She told me what to do when you were sick."

"Oh right." Caleb said. "I'll come with you."

Ember suppressed a sigh, she had hoped to talk to Cybele alone and ask advice on what she should do now, but seeing that this wasn't going to be an option right now, Ember decided to come back when Caleb was asleep.

The two of them walked over to Cybele's hide out and when they got there, Ember jumped down the steps just after Caleb when Cybele appeared.

"Hey Cybele." Ember said.

"As you can see, Ruby's better." Caleb said before Cybele could reply.

"That is good to know." Cybele said. "It's good to see you back on your feet, Ruby."

"Thanks Cybele." Ember smiled.

"I owe you my gratitude for looking after Caleb." Cybele continued.

"That's alright." Ember smiled. "That's what friends are for."

"Yes they are." Caleb smirked.

Ember smiled back at him when he put an arm around her shoulders and gave her a slight squeeze. The action was so familiar that Ember felt like crying because Caleb didn't remember who she was.

**So that's it for chapter 11. Sorry it took some time to post it, but chapters should be coming more frequently seeing that I'm home from my internship and can enjoy some well earned time off from school and other obligations. :D**

**Also in my haste to post the last 2 chapters, I forgot to tell you that the name of Chapter 10 'Down goes another one' is actually the name of a McFly song. The same goes for the name of this chapter.:)**

**The next chapter will probably be up by Friday:) until then!**

**X Abby**


	12. Chapter 12

**Hello! Thanks so much for the lovely reviews guys! *Hugs* **

**Hope you're gonna enjoy chapter 12:D**

**Chapter 12: Exodus**

Caleb and Ember had stayed with Cybele for a while and talked about what had been going on when Caleb was sick, although most of it was lied on Ember and Cybele's part, they had silently come to the agreement that if Caleb didn't remember anything about Upa Gup, there was no sense in bothering Caleb with that and make him worry unnecessarily

After Caleb and Ember had finished talking about what had happened during the time that Caleb was sick and the time that Ember had passed out because of the hypothermia, they went back to the lair to catch some sleep seeing as it was already getting late.

Ember sighed as she lay down on her own 'bed'. she wanted nothing more than to crawl into bed with Caleb, but seeing as he didn't know her like he had done before the memory loss, she decided against doing that. after exchanging 'goodnight's, Ember started waiting for the moment that Caleb fell asleep as it would allow her to sneak away to Cybele. After a long wait, Ember was finally sure that Caleb was asleep, so she sneaked out of bed and grabbed her boots, which she put on in the main room of the lair before starting to run towards Cybele's hideout.

"Cybele?" Ember asked as soon as she jumped of the steps.

"Ember." Cybele said as she appeared. "What is it?"

"Upa is gone." Ember said. "I killed him."

"Good." Cybele said approvingly. "You have done well."

"I don't feel well about it." Ember remarked, sitting down on the gantry in front of Cybele. "I know I did the right thing, but I can't help but feel guilty for taking a life..."

"It's a natural reaction." Cybele said reassuringly. "Over time it will pass.'

"I hope so..." Ember said softly as she pulled her knees to her chest. "Cybele... Caleb's completely forgotten about me..."

"I know." Cybele said sympathetically. "It is better this way, Ember."

"I know..." Ember said softly. "I just feel like I've lost him..."

"I wish there was something I could do to help you." Cybele said.

"Thanks." Ember smiled.

"Ember, I'm afraid that your work here is not finished yet." Cybele said.

"What do you mean?" Ember asked, climbing to her feet.

"I have been receiving transmissions." Cybele said.

"What kind?" Ember asked.

"Transmissions from other resistance cells." Cybele said.

"Really?" Ember asked, feeling hope surge. "There's really more humans out there? Caleb's not the only one left?"

"It seems like he's not." Cybele stated. "But it could also be a trap for any humans that are left out there."

"That could be a good possibility; Arkon and Neuros would've been smart enough to come up with something like that." Ember agreed. "So what do we do?"

"We need to find out if this is a real message or not." Cybele said. "Someone will need to go with Caleb to make sure that he doesn't do something reckless."

"He is good at that." Ember agreed. "You know I'm more than willing to help Caleb."

"Thank you, Ember." Cybele said. "I left co-ordinates in the Cycon Archive about where we are and what the positions of the signals I've been receiving are. It will be yours and Caleb's mission to find out whether they are real or Roboid made."

"I understand." Ember nodded. "Anything else I need to know about?"

"On the aft part of FutureGate should be an old ship that you and Caleb should be able to repair." Cybele replied.

"Noted." Ember nodded. "I'll try to build up some kind of GPS system that could help us out with locating the signals."

"Good." Cybele said approvingly. "Ember, I am telling you this before Caleb because I fear that Caleb will be reckless if he hears this. Please, make sure that my son will be safe."

"I swear it to you." Ember nodded.

Ember watched as Cybele disappeared before walking back up the steps to go back to the lair. Although she felt really tired still because of her dip into the icy waters that surrounded FutureGate, she was determined to get a head start on building the makeshift GPS system. As she got back to the lair, she found that Caleb was standing in the main room of the lair, looking confused.

"Ruby." He said when he saw her. "Where have you been?"

"A walk." Ember lied quickly. "I couldn't sleep so I thought I'd walk around FutureGate for a while to try and tire myself out a little."

"Oh, right." Caleb nodded.

Ember watched as Caleb ran a hand through his hair, making it stick up at all kinds of weird angles that made Ember laugh a little.

"What?" Caleb asked.

"Nothing." Ember smiled. "Just, bad hair day?"

"There's nothing wrong with my hair!" Caleb said indignantly.

"Clearly you haven't looked in the mirror yet." Ember laughed as she walked over to her bag.

She fished out a small pocket sized mirror and held it out at Caleb so he could see for himself.

"That's new." Caleb remarked. "It's kind of a good look for me, don't you think?"

Ember could barely contain her laughter as she looked at Caleb's bed head hairdo. In her opinion he just wasn't the type for that at all.

"Stick with what you know, Caleb." Ember laughed. "Stick with what you know."

"What's that supposed to mean?" Caleb asked, looking mock offended.

"Nothing." Ember smiled innocently as she walked past him into the sleeping quarters. "Now if you'll excuse me, I'm going to try and get some sleep."

Ember sat down on her bed and pulled of her boots before laying down, all the while thinking about how that little moment could've fitted in perfectly with how she and Caleb used to act when Caleb still knew who she was. She turned onto her side, her back facing the rest of the room and closed her eyes, trying to fall asleep while she was wistfully thinking about how things used to be.

When Ember woke up the following morning, she realized that once again the sun was shining right in her face. As she threw an arm over her eyes to protect them from the bright light, Ember wondered why she always chose a spot that was directly in the sunlight.

"Bugger..." Ember sighed as she sat up.

Just as she was about to get to her feet, the door of the sleeping quarters slammed open and Ember's first instinct was to grab her knife, but when she saw Caleb, she relaxed a little. Caleb came bounding into the room like an over excited puppy and dropped down next to Ember on the mattress, making Ember pull her legs away to avoid them being crushed by Caleb.

"Why are you so cheerful?" Ember asked, although she already knew the answer.

"Cybele picked up transmissions from other resistance members!" Caleb said excitedly. "I can't believe it! I'm not the last human left!"

"She did?" Ember asked, faking surprise and excitement. "But that's brilliant!"

"I know!" Caleb agreed, climbing to his feet again and practically bouncing around in excitement. "She told us that we'd have to leave FutureGate to find them though, that's kind of a scary thought, but scary in a good way!"

"Leave FutureGate?" Ember repeated, again faking surprise. "Seriously?"

"Yeah, isn't that brilliant?" Caleb asked, clearly really excited about the idea. We'll actually be able to feel real ground underneath our feet!"

"I still can't believe it..." Ember said, still faking surprise. "We're actually getting permission to leave FutureGate."

"Yes!" Caleb exclaimed. "Cybele can't be sure if the transmission is fake or not, so she needs someone to check them out, and that's going to be us!"

Ember jumped a little when Caleb pulled her to her feet and into the main room of the lair, which looked like a hurricane had swept through the room.

"Wow, looks like you've been busy." Ember remarked.

"Yeah, we gotta be prepared if we're going to go walking around outside of FutureGate." Caleb replied

"Yeah, that's true." Ember agreed as she walked over to her backpack. "Did Cybele tell you how we can actually get away from FutureGate?"

"She did, there's some boats at the after part of FutureGate." Caleb replied.

"Okay." Ember nodded even though she already knew this bit of information. "Well, let's get cracking then, shall we?"

Caleb nodded and the two of them started packing stuff into separate backpacks. Seeing as Ember already had most of her stuff packed into her own backpack, she decided to go down to the storage rooms and grab whatever food she could as neither she nor Caleb knew where they would be able to stock up when it came to food and water.

When Ember came back, she found that Caleb was stuffing stuff into his backpack that he had laid out onto the table.

"I've got food." Ember said, putting the bag she'd used onto the table. "We should divide it over our packs, in case one of us loses it."

"Good idea, recruit." Caleb nodded.

"You know, you can actually call me by my name instead of saying recruit." Ember remarked.

"Alright, Ruby." Caleb grinned.

Ember smiled back at him as she started filling up the space that was left in her backpack with food.

A while later, Caleb and Ember were ready to leave FutureGate behind them so they started walking over to the aft part of FutureGate to find the boats. When they did eventually find the boats, it was basically a sort of inside harbour.

"Wow." Ember said, looking down at the boats. "If we're not going to find something worth repairing here, I don't think we'll be able to find anything."

"Yeah, you're right." Caleb agreed. "Come on, let's get to work."

Ember nodded and followed Caleb down to the boats. After a few moments of looking around, the two of them had found a small boat that didn't take that much effort to repair so they set to work on repairing it. while Caleb did most of the welding work, Ember took care of greasing the engine, after which Ember was looking a little like a grease monkey from a bad movie about car racing.

"And I think we're all done." Caleb announced as he turned off the welding torch and flicked up the visor he'd been using to protect his eyes.

"Really?" Ember asked.

"Yeah, think so." Caleb nodded. "Go ahead and start the engine, I'll stay here and make sure nothing breaks."

Ember nodded and ran up to the steering cabin. It took her a while to see where the ignition for the engine was, but as soon as she'd found it, she pressed it. After a few seconds, the engine came on and it stayed on, making Ember grin. A few moments later, Caleb came running into the cabin, grinning widely himself before grabbing Ember into a hug.

"We did it!" he exclaimed. "We're finally getting of this scrapheap!"

"I can't believe it." Ember smiled back.

"There's just one problem." Caleb remarked.

"What's that?" Ember asked.

"I don't know how to drive this thing." Caleb remarked.

"I don't either, but it shouldn't be that hard." Ember remarked. "I mean, land isn't that far off, even if the ship sinks we should be able to swim to shore."

"I'd rather not think about that." Caleb grimaced.

"Yeah, me neither come to think of it." Ember agreed, thinking about Caleb's cybernetics not being water tight. "Alright then, are we ready to leave this hunk of junk behind us and go explore the world a bit?"

"More than ready." Caleb grinned.

Ember nodded and slowly pushed the throttle forwards. She had no experience in driving a boat, but she figured that it couldn't be all that different from driving a car, seeing as the wheel was mostly the same.

Maybe 5 minutes later, the small boat that Caleb and Ember had repaired was finally starting to move away from FutureGate and Ember took a few moments to look back at the former base of the Roboidz before turning back to look at the waters in front of her.

"You know it's weird not standing on the decks of FutureGate." Caleb commented.

"I can imagine that." Ember said thoughtfully. "After al it's the only home you've known for 5 years."

"How do you know?" Caleb asked, looking back at her.

"Cybele told me." Ember lied quickly. "You were having a nightmare when you were sick, shouting stuff about not wanting to be alone, so I asked Cybele when you were sleeping peacefully and she mentioned something like that."

Ember made sure not to look at Caleb while she said this, as she was sure that her eyes were giving away her lie.

"Anyway you'll be alright." Ember smiled at him. "We'll be back on FutureGate before you know it, you'll see."

"Yeah." Caleb agreed, smirking a little before his face fell. "I'm worried about Cybele though... she'll be all alone while we're gone."

"She'll be fine." Ember replied reassuringly. "I mean, she's been alone waiting for you to wake up from stasis... Don't think we'll be gone for more than a few weeks, so it'll seem to her like just an hour passed."

Ember glanced up at Caleb for a few moments and gave him a reassuring smile. When Caleb returned it, Ember knew that he would be alright and she turned to look back at the waters in front of them. As they got closer and closer to land, Ember couldn't help but wonder what they were going to find, whether Caleb really was the last human alive or not.

**That's it for chapter 12 I'm afraid!**

**I should mention that the plan to have my pair remove themselves from FutureGate wasn't intentional or to nick Oddments and Tweaks' idea. This is just where the story took me so I ran with it. :) if there are going to be any similarities, they weren't done intentional as myself and Tweaks both have our different storylines :)**

**Anyway, I really hope you enjoyed the chapter, sorry there's not much action, this was just a filler chapter I'm afraid.**

**If all goes well, I'll have the next chapter up by Tuesday.**

**X Abby.**


	13. Chapter 13

**Hiya!**

**Here's a new chapter! Thanks to everyone who reviewed!:D**

**Chapter 13: The Start Of A Journey**

It had taken maybe an hour or so for the boat to get close enough to land so Ember and Caleb could leave it and go on foot through the water. She was actually grateful that the boots that she and Caleb were wearing, otherwise they'd be in trouble when it came to the cybernetics that Caleb had in his leg. Ember was the first to reach the beach and she looked around for a moment as Caleb joined her.

"So, how does it feel to have ground underneath your feet instead of metal gantries?" Ember asked.

"It feels weird." Caleb remarked, looking down at his feet before smirking. "Weird in a good way, though."

"You'll get used to it." Ember smiled, patting his shoulder as she saw dark clouds heading their way. "We should find cover before that storm sets in. Don't know about you, but I don't think that your cybernetics will appreciate getting water on them."

"Yeah, you're right." Caleb agreed, putting up the hood from his hoodie up over his head.

Ember nodded and let Caleb lead the way away from the beach. To her, the idea of walking around in the year 2110 seemed really weird, seeing as she was going to get a glimpse of what the world would look like by the time that the Roboidz had invaded. An hour after Caleb and Ember had left the beach, the storm had set in and they had gotten soaked through in a matter of minutes.

"Are storms always like this?" Caleb called over the sound of a thunderclap.

"Pretty much." Ember yelled back before grabbing his arm as she spotted a cave. "Come on this way!"

She pulled Caleb along as she started running towards the cave. A few moments later, they had reached it and got into its cover.

"Bloody hell." Ember remarked as she flicked her soaked bangs from her face before wringing out her hair. "That's one hell of a storm."

"You know, I'd give anything to be back on FutureGate right about now." Caleb remarked as he pulled down his hood.

"Tell me about it." Ember agreed as she shivered a little.

Ember walked further into the cave to explore it a little and to be sure that they were actually out of the rain before she pulled of her backpack and put it down on the ground. She sat down beside it and pulled it open and after digging around for a few moments, she pulled out a heat source she'd found when she went on the last supply run before they were going to leave FutureGate. As soon as Ember flicked on the heat source, the cave started to be filled with warmth.

"Hey." Ember said to Caleb, who was still standing at the mouth of the cave watching the rain. "Come get warmed up before you get sick again."

Caleb glanced back at Ember for a few seconds before turning back to look at the rain again. After a few moments, Caleb joined Ember at the heat source and sat down after pulling his backpack off. Ember watched Caleb for a few moments as he stared into the light of the heater before she pulled her laptop out of her backpack and turned it on. The night before after Caleb had gone back asleep; she'd sneaked out of bed again and downloaded everything Cybele had put up in the Cycon Archive.

"What are you doing?" Caleb asked.

"Trying to find out where we are." Ember replied.

"Ruby?" Caleb asked as Ember started looking over the data that Cybele had left for her.

"Yeah?" Ember asked absently.

"Would that help?" Caleb asked.

Ember looked up to find that Caleb was staring at something over her shoulder. When she turned around to look, she found that the walls of the cave were covered in all sorts of ancient cave paintings.

"Bloody hell..." Ember said in awe.

"Who painted these?" Caleb asked as he got up to get a closer look.

"I don't know." Ember replied. "But by the looks of them they're thousands of years old... they were probably around the time of the dinosaurs or something..."

"Dinosaurs?" Caleb repeated, turning to face Ember.

"Yeah." Ember replied. "They're like... uh... they're like really big lizards, think five times the size of a Roboid. No wait; you've seen Godzilla, right?"

"Yeah, I did." Caleb nodded.

"Well, that's a dinosaur." Ember said.

"I wouldn't want to encounter one of those." Caleb grimaced.

"Don't worry." Ember smiled. "You won't. They're all gone, died out thousands of years ago. But those cave paintings do help a little in trying to figure out where we are."

"How?" Caleb asked.

"See those words next to the resistance logo?" Ember asked, pointing at the words that were painted underneath the drawings. "It's French. 'Nous décidons de notre propre destin, pas le Roboidz.'"

"What does that mean?" Caleb asked.

"I don't know." Ember replied. "I don't speak French... but judging what it says, it's something to do with deciding on... either destiny or fate, but I know that the last part means 'not the Roboidz'."

"Maybe they meant something like that humanity chooses its own fate." Caleb suggested.

"I don't know." Ember shook her head. "But it's clear that we're in France... I just don't know whether we're closer to Belgium or Spain... God, where is the internet when you need it.

"Ruby, you're not making sense." Caleb remarked as he sat down beside her.

"Sorry about that." Ember smiled. "I'm rambling a little. Anyway, I managed to build a sort of GPS system last night, because I was curious to find out where we were exactly..."

"And?" Caleb asked.

"Right now, we're in what used to be the centre of Calais... a French port town..." Ember replied.

"But it's nothing but wasteland out there." Caleb remarked, looking out of the cave to the wasteland.

"I know..." Ember said slowly.

The two of them fell silent for a few minutes, each of them thinking about the damage that the Roboidz had done to turn the centre of a town into a wasteland.

"We can't dwell on that." Caleb said, pulling Ember from her thoughts. "We should focus on our mission."

"Yeah, we should." Ember nodded, shaking all thoughts about the Roboid attack off.

"Alright, where's the first signal?" Caleb asked, looking over Ember's shoulder.

"Well, from what I can tell, it's in the middle of what used to be Belgium." Ember replied. "My geography isn't that great, but I think it's supposed to be somewhere in where Gent used to be. It's about 100 miles away from here."

"That's one long trek." Caleb remarked as he looked down at the map.

"I know." Ember replied. "Depending on how much distance we can travel before dark, it shouldn't take more than 3 days at the most if we take our time and of course if the weather doesn't turn bad."

"Isn't there a transmission somewhere closer?" Caleb asked.

"No." Ember shook her head sadly. "Spain and Portugal are completely clean, as are Italy and Switzerland... Luxemburg has a fake signal running so we can avoid that... as for Germany and the Netherlands, Frankfurt's got an unknown signal, as does Utrecht... so I think we'd best go through Belgium to the Netherlands and then go across the Dutch border into Germany."

"That sounds like a plan." Caleb nodded. "We're going to have our work cut out for us."

"I'll say." Ember nodded as she put her laptop away. "We should try to find some mode of transport while we're on our way to Gent. I don't think our feet are going to appreciate that much walking about we'll have to do."

"We'll figure something out." Caleb said confidently. "For now we wait out the storm and start working our way towards Gent."

Ember nodded and leaned back against the wall of the cave before looking out of the cave. By the looks of the dark clouds, it was going to be a long wait until the storm had finally stopped.

In the end, Caleb and Ember had been forced to stay the night in the cave as the storm didn't stop. Seeing as neither of them had thought to bring sleeping bags or blankets at any rate, which Ember felt was a stupid mistake neither of them should've made, Caleb and Ember ended up falling asleep as they lay against each other so that they could share each other's body heat.

Ember sighed when she woke up see that Caleb was using her as a teddy bear again. for a moment, Ember allowed herself to hope that maybe somewhere, deep down in Caleb's sub consciousness, he still knew who she actually was, but she didn't allow that hope to blossom for more than a moment before pushing it back into the darkest depths of her mind, knowing that if that hope was crushed she would just end up getting hurt again. She carefully untangling herself from Caleb's grasp and getting to her feet. She glanced over to the mouth of the cave to find that the storm had finally stopped. Ember walked out of the cave and looked around at the wasteland that surrounded her; she still couldn't get her head around the idea that this used to be the centre of one of the busiest port towns she knew of. Ember shielded her eyes for a moment against the sun as she looked up at it to get inkling at what time it was before she realized that she now knew the time frame she was in, so she adjusted her watch to find that it was about 9 in the morning.

"Bugger..." Ember sighed as she walked back into the cave.

When she reached the spot where she and Caleb had set up camp, she found that Caleb had already woken up.

"Good morning." Caleb said.

"Morning." Ember replied as she sat down beside him. "Sleep well?

"Not really." Caleb replied as he stretched out. "I'd give anything to be back on FutureGate right now."

"Yeah, me too." Ember replied. "Thinking about what we've got to do... it's pretty daunting if you ask me."

"Yeah, I know." Caleb nodded. "Still, we promised Cybele we'd do this mission, so we're going to see this through to the end."

"Well I didn't say anything about quitting." Ember smiled. "I just said that it's kind of daunting, that's all."

"Good." Caleb nodded approvingly. "'cause you know, this isn't something I'll be able to do alone."

Ember nodded back and busied herself with searching through her backpack for something to eat to hide her disappointment at the fact that Caleb thought she was a quitter. If only he knew the stuff she'd done for him while he was sick, of course, it was something that Ember would never be able to tell him because that would only bring along complications.

"So, what's the plan for today, oh fearless resistance leader?" Ember grinned.

"Don't know." Caleb shrugged. "I guess make as much progress as we can."

"Sounds like a plan." Ember nodded. "Don't think we'll need that many layers of clothing though, it's pretty warm outside already. The more we wear the more moisture we'll lose, which means more we need to drink to replenish that."

"Yeah, you're right." Caleb agreed, starting to shrug of his leather jacket.

Ember followed his example and took of her vest before unzipping her jumpsuit and tying the sleeves of it around her waist so she was left with her black tank top. She glanced up at Caleb to find that he had just shed his leather jacket and left his hoodie on as he started to pack it into his backpack.

"I think you'll be better off taking of your hoodie too." Ember remarked.

"No, I'm fine like this." Caleb said firmly.

"Caleb, if this is about feeling uncomfortable about your arm, then don't, okay?" Ember replied. "I've seen your arm before; hell I've even repaired it for you. I know you don't remember this, but I won't judge you on the fact that you've got a cybernetic arm, okay?"

Caleb gave Ember an uncomfortable look before sighing. Ember couldn't help but feel a little smug of the fact that she could still convince Caleb to do something when it came to his cybernetics. She watched as Caleb took off his hoodie, leaving him in just his t-shirt. Even though Ember had seen Caleb's cybernetic arm before, she still had to get used to it sometimes. His arm was almost completely covered with metal and there were wires sticking out of his arm all over the place. On the top of his wrist was a sort of box that acted as a control panel. Ember knew this from the time that she repaired Caleb's arm, basically the device was used for shutting down Caleb's arm if it needed repairs or to shut down the pain sensors for minor repairs.

Ember stuffed her battle vest into her backpack after taking a small compass from a pocket so they would be able to navigate. After Ember had put the compass' cord around her neck so she could wear it as a necklace, Ember shrugged her backpack as Caleb did the same.

"Ready?" Caleb asked as Ember was still fastening the straps of her pack.

"Yes sir." Ember smirked, giving a mock salute to which Caleb rolled his eyes.

Ember grinned a little behind Caleb's back as she followed him out of the cave.

**So that's it for chapter 13!:D I hope you liked it!**

**The French phrase that I used in this one translates as "we decide our own destiny, not the Roboidz" this basically to let people who took shelter in the cave, that Caleb and Ember used to spend the night, know that there are people willing to fight the Roboidz control of Earth. Hope that explains it!**

**X Abby**


	14. Chapter 14

**Hiya!**

**Thanks so much for the lovely reviews! Much appreciated!**

**Here's chapter 14!**

**Chapter 14: The Long Road Ahead.**

For the next three days, Caleb and Ember kept walking towards Gent. The road was a long one and they spend as much time as they could making progress across the wastelands until darkness fell, which was when they would find shelter for the night only to move on the next day. At the end of the third day, Caleb and Ember had finally reached Gent and both of them were surprised to find that there was something left of Gent in terms of buildings. As far as Ember knew, Gent was one of the bigger towns in Belgium, so she thought that if it hadn't been destroyed completely, then the Roboidz must've stopped bombardments early.

"It looks like a ghost town..." Ember remarked.

"ghosts?" Caleb asked.

"oh uh... well, ghosts are basically the souls of people who died." Ember explained. "some people believe that souls keep wandering the earth because they feel like a job is unfinished or they're just unable to cross over. There's nothing to worry about though, I mean, we can't see them most of the time."

"right..." Caleb said slowly, looking sceptical before looking up at the sky. "It's getting dark. Come on, we should find shelter."

Ember nodded and wordlessly fell in step beside Caleb as they went in search for shelter. As they walked through town, Ember kept her eyes peeled for something that resembled transportation, preferably something like a car. By the time that Caleb and Ember found shelter in the form of a derelict house, Ember hadn't seen anything that looked like transport, which was a little disappointing seeing as after 3 days of solid walking, her feet had started protesting and by that she meant that they were starting to blister.

"Bloody hell..." Ember sighed.

She dropped her backpack onto the ground beside the old ratty couch that was standing in the living room before sitting down on the couch to start pulling her boots off.

"Ow..." Ember softly whimpered in pain as she managed to work her boots off.

"You alright, Ruby?" Caleb asked as he came into the room after making sure that there were no dangers around.

"Yeah fine." Ember nodded. "Just blisters."

To prove her point, Ember pulled of her socks, revealing her blistered feet.

"That looks painful." Caleb cringed in sympathy.

"It is." Ember nodded as she reached into her backpack for the first aid kit. "You should probably wait with eating something until I'm done. This is kind of disgusting."

Caleb nodded and silently watched as Ember worked to get rid of her blisters. When she was finally done, both her feet had been bandaged completely and her feet didn't hurt as much as before.

"You alright?" Caleb asked when Ember winced a little as she pulled on her socks.

"Yeah, fine." Ember nodded. "It'll be better in the morning. What about you? Do your feet hurt or anything?"

"No." Caleb shook his head. "No problems for me."

"Lucky." Ember grumbled.

"It could be worse." Caleb remarked, smirking slightly. "You could've broken a leg or something."

Ember stared at Caleb for a few moments before smiling.

"Yeah, I suppose you're right." she agreed.

Caleb smiled back at her and Ember started digging through her backpack for something to eat and drink, seeing as their last break had been at least 6 hours ago.

"We should start locating the signal." Caleb remarked after the two of them had eaten.

"Can't that wait until morning?" Ember asked. "We're both exhausted."

"I'm not." Caleb replied.

"Caleb, the bags underneath your eyes have bags underneath them." Ember said. "You're exhausted. Please, you're no good to this mission if you're dead on your feet, get some sleep."

"You know, you're sounding like a mother, Ruby." Caleb remarked.

"It's a girl thing." Ember smiled although in reality she knew that her 'grandmother' instincts were kicking in. "You'll get used to it. Want to give me a hand? I'm going to get the mattresses from upstairs? This building doesn't look all that structurally sound, so I don't wanna spend the night upstairs.."

Caleb nodded and the two of them worked together in getting the mattresses downstairs. In the end the two of them had decided in grabbing the mattress from the double bed in the master bedroom as they'd gotten so used to sleeping close to each other. Well, more like Caleb had gotten used to it, for Ember it was just like falling into an old habit. After grabbing some pillows and blankets from upstairs, Ember came downstairs to find that Caleb was already getting himself ready for bed, which meant that he had pulled of his t-shirt to switch it for a long sleeved shirt as he was still really insecure about his cybernetics even though he knew that Ember didn't think that he was a freak because of them. Ember made sure not to look in his direction so he wouldn't feel any more uncomfortable than he was probably already feeling as she dumped the stuff onto the mattress.

Ember turned to her own backpack and pulled out a tank top she'd deemed her pyjama tank top, seeing as she and Caleb kept their clothes on in case they had to get out of an area fast.

After the two of them had finished getting ready for bed, they got comfortable on the mattress. Ember stared at the ceiling while she listened to Caleb falling asleep, despite the fact that she was exhausted, sleep eluded her, so Ember decided to get to work on finding out where the signal was.

As it turned out, the signal wasn't that far off from where they had decided to set up camp for the night.

"Lucky..." Ember whispered under her breath.

She sighed as she turned off her laptop and climbed back into bed. After lying down, she froze when Caleb started to move, only for him to turn onto his side to face her and drop an arm over her stomach. Ember couldn't help but smile slightly at this. It was almost like Caleb was doing this to reassure himself that he wasn't alone. With that thought lingering in her mind, Ember closed her eyes and let sleep wash over her.

By the time that Ember woke up, the sun was just starting to rise and Caleb was already up on his feet.

"Good morning." He said cheerfully.

"Don't know what's so good about it..." Ember complained as she flicked her bangs out of her eyes.

"Grumpy." Caleb remarked.

"No, just not long enough sleep." Ember replied as she got to her feet.

Linking her hands together in front of her, Ember raised them above her head and her back gave a pleasant crack as she got rid of the stiffness in it. As Ember continued stretching, she couldn't help but notice Caleb staring at her, to which she smiled slightly.

"See anything you like?" Ember teased to which Caleb turned bright red.

"No." He said quickly. "I mean yes... I mean... uh... I mean you're a lovely girl and all but you're my friend, I would never look at you in that way..."

"Caleb." Ember smiled to stop his stammering. "It was a joke. Calm down will you?"

"Oh right." Caleb replied, looking relieved.

Ember smiled again as she grabbed her normal tank top and after turning her back on Caleb, she quickly changed them before tying her hair back in a braid.

"So, the signal." Caleb said, still looking uncomfortable.

"Yeah, I traced it last night." Ember nodded as she grabbed her laptop. "I couldn't fall asleep straight away so..."

"Nice work, Ruby." Caleb grinned, clapping her on the shoulder. "What did you find?"

"Well, the signal's location isn't all that far from here." Ember replied as she turned on her laptop. "I guess maybe a 15 minute walk or so? It shouldn't take that long at any rate."

"Brilliant." Caleb grinned. "Alright, from here on we've got to move with caution, who knows what could be the source of this signal."

Ember nodded as she packed her laptop away. She didn't want to begin to imagine what the source of the signal could be and whether it was good or bad... if it was bad, Ember wondered how they were going to defend themselves, seeing as they had no weapons. That would be an issue that had to be fixed as soon as they had taken care of the first signal.

After Caleb and Ember had eaten breakfast, they left their shelter for the night to start heading over to the source of the signal. When they arrived at the source fifteen minutes later, they found that it was a military base where they had ended up.

"Military?" Caleb asked as he took in the building.

"Makes sense." Ember remarked.

They walked over to the building and after looking around a little, they found the garage through which they could enter the building. As they stepped into the garage, Ember started to grin as they found a bunch of jeeps that looked like they were still workable.

"Awesome!" she exclaimed. "Finally we've got some proper transport!"

"They're cool." Caleb grinned before giving Ember a curious look. "What are they?"

"They're Jeeps." Ember replied. "By the looks of them, they're 4x4 jeeps, which means that we'll be able to use them to get around."

"I take it you know how to use those things?" Caleb asked.

"Yup, leave that to me." Ember replied. "We can take care of that later though."

"You're right." Caleb nodded. "Come on."

Caleb led the way through the garage until they got to a lift. Ember reached for the button only for Caleb to grab her wrist and stop her.

"What?" Ember asked, turning to face him.

"What are you doing, Ruby?" Caleb replied, looking a little panicked.

"Caleb, it's just a lift." Ember stated. "It's completely harmless! All that thing does is move up and down, nothing else."

"Are you sure?" Caleb asked.

"Yes, I'm positive." Ember replied. "Trust me."

Caleb gave Ember an unsure look for a few moments before he let go of her wrist. For a moment Ember wondered why Caleb was so stressed out about her wanting to use the lift before she realized that on FutureGate, there were no lifts, just stairs and ladders. Ember pressed the button to call the lift, but nothing happened, the button didn't even light up.

"Huh." Ember remarked. "Looks like this thing is out of power."

"It doesn't look like there's another way out either." Caleb remarked as he looked around. "Hold on."

Ember stood back as Caleb reached for the door and the next thing she knew, Caleb was shoving the door open. It almost looked like it didn't take him any effort at all. Ember looked around for a moment before grabbing a wooden plank that was standing close by. Once the doors were open enough, Ember jammed the wood between the doors to keep them open. Ember pulled of her backpack and ducked underneath the wooden plank to find that the lift wasn't lowered to garage level at all. It was somewhere high in the air and Ember sighed.

"Looks like we're going to be in for a climb." Ember remarked as she grabbed her backpack and pulled her laptop out of it.

She kneeled down on the ground and opened her laptop to be able to find the precise location of the signal while Caleb looked up the lift shaft.

"Well, there's a ladder." Caleb remarked. "Shouldn't be so hard."

"Well, it's going to be a long climb..." Ember remarked. "The signal is at the top floor."

"How many floors does this thing have?" Caleb asked, turning to face Ember.

"22." Ember replied as she put her laptop away.

"22 decks?" Caleb asked. "Really?"

"Actually the phrase is floors." Ember remarked.

"You 21st century people." Caleb remarked. "You're all so weird. Why nto just call it decks?"

"Thanks a lot, Caleb. we call them floors because that's what you call them in a building, decks is the phrase you use in a ship." Ember shook her head as she pulled out a mountain climbing harness. "Put this on."

"Why?" Caleb asked as he caught the harness that Ember tossed at him.

"Safety measure." Ember replied as put on her own harness and tightened the straps around her waist and legs. "Don't know about you, but if we're going to climb up 22 floors, I don't want to risk either of us falling."

"Yeah, nice thinking, Ruby." Caleb said, smirking slightly. "I guess you 21st century people aren't so weird at all."

Ember just rolled her eyes at Caleb as she fastened a karabiner hook to a d-ring on her harness which had a rope on it and a spring clip karabiner hook on the end of it. After tightening the screw that was on the karabiner connected to the harness so it couldn't come loose accidentally, she grabbed another rope with two karabiners on the ends of it before walking over to Caleb.

"Is this tight enough?" Caleb asked, looking up at Ember.

"Let's have a look." Ember replied.

She fastened the karabiner to Caleb's harness and fastened the screw of it before checking all the straps of the harness, tightening them where she could.

"Ruby, that's too tight." Caleb complained after Ember tightened the strap around his waist.

"You'll thank me for this if you happen to fall." Ember replied after raising an eyebrow at Caleb. "Make sure the other end of this is fastened to the ladder before you start moving, alright?"

"Yeah, alright." Caleb replied.

Ember nodded and picked up her backpack before putting it on and fastening the straps on her chest and waist. As she tightened the straps, she had to hide a smile when she saw Caleb watching her before copying her actions, as if it was his own idea.

"Ready, Ruby?" Caleb asked.

"Go for it." Ember replied.

She stood back and watched as Caleb ducked underneath the wooden board and grabbed hold of the ladder on the side of the shaft. After fastening the karabiner hook above him, he started to climb. When Ember was sure she wouldn't get a foot in her face, she ducked underneath the wooden board and grabbed hold of the ladder. After fastening the karabiner, Ember started to follow Caleb up the ladder.

**That's it for chapter 14. Really hope you enjoyed it!:D I'm planning to have chapter 15 up on Friday!**

**X Abby.**


	15. Chapter 15

**Hiya, **

**sorry I didn't post this last Friday like I said I would, to be honest I completely forgot to post. But hey, better late than never, right?:)**

**Chapter 15: The First Signal.**

After an hour of climbing the ladder, Caleb and Ember were halfway to getting to floor 22 and if Ember was honest, she was getting fed up with the ladder they had to climb. She kept banging her left knee on the rungs of the ladder.

"Bugger." Ember swore after she banged her knee for what felt like the hundredth time.

"You alright down there, Ruby?" Caleb asked, sounding amused.

"I would be if I didn't bang my knee the whole time on this bloody ladder." Ember replied. "God, I can't wait until we're done climbing this bloody thing."

"Come on, it could be worst." Caleb remarked, glancing down at her.

"How can it be worse?" Ember asked.

As soon as the words had left Ember's mouth, the two of them could hear a screeching sound above them.

"What was that?" Ember asked.

"I don't know." Caleb replied as the screeching got louder. "But I think we're about to find out..."

"You don't mean..." Ember started to say as the metal screeching started to reach unbearable levels. "Bloody Hell!"

"Come on! Move!" Caleb ordered.

Ember started climbing after Caleb as fast as she could as he started climbing a lot faster. When they reached a floor, Caleb started working in prying the door open as the screeching got louder and louder.

"Hurry up!" Ember yelled over the noise.

"I'm trying." Caleb replied.

Ember watched as Caleb got the door open and climbed through it as she could see that the lift was coming down. Ember climbed up as fast as she could and grabbed hold of Caleb's hand as he reached it down to her.

A second after Caleb had pulled Ember through the door, the lift came crashing past, showering the two of them in sparks. Maybe 10 seconds later, the lift crashed to the ground with an ear deafening crash which made Caleb and Ember jump.

"Oh my god..." Ember gasped, feeling her heart beating a hundred miles an hour in her throat. "Bloody hell... I can't believe that just happened..."

"Me neither." Caleb breathed in relief. "We were really lucky. We're certainly not going to do that again."

"I agree." Ember replied. "From now on, we're taking the stairs."

"Yeah, let's do that." Caleb nodded. "Lifts are not safe at all."

Ember nodded back and the two of them started walking towards where the stairs were.

"Hey wait." Ember said, grabbing Caleb's arm.

"What?" Caleb asked, turning to face her.

"Look." Ember said, pointing at a sign. "The armoury."

"What would we want with an armoury?" Caleb asked, frowning at Ember.

"For weapons." Ember replied, pulling Caleb over to the door. "We don't know what's out there in the wastelands; we don't have anything to protect ourselves with."

"Ruby, wait." Caleb said, grabbing hold of Ember and making her face him. "Listen, I don't like violence, which means I don't like anything associated with it."

"I know, but we've got no choice." Ember replied. "If you don't want to carry weapons around, then that's fine, really it is, but one of us has too. We need to be able to protect ourselves."

"I suppose you're right." Caleb sighed.

Ember smiled a little before turning to the door of the armoury again and shoving it open. She slowly stepped into the room to find that the room was filled with weapons, leading Ember to believe that whichever military faction that the base belonged too never had the time to gather all the weapons in the room.

"Ruby?" Caleb asked. "Could you hurry up?"

"Yeah, give me a minute." Ember replied.

She stepped further into the room and started looking around for what would be easy to carry around. She found out that the weapons in the room still had normal bullets in them that Ember knew from 2010, which was strange in her mind as she would've thought that by that time, normal bullets would've been replaced for laser beams. In the end, Ember opted for a simple handgun and a holster she could strap to her leg. After grabbing a few boxes of ammunition and some empty ammunition clips before stuffing all of them into her backpack. Ember stepped out of the armoury to find that Caleb was in the process of taking of the safety harness.

"Got everything you need?" Caleb asked.

"Yeah." Ember replied as she loosened the straps on her harness before pulling it off. "I got what I need."

"Do you even know how to use that thing?" Caleb asked, eying the gun uncertainly.

"Yes, I know how to use it." Ember nodded as she started to fasten the belt of the holster around her waist.

It was actually a lie, she hadn't used a gun before in her life, all she knew about guns was what she'd seen in movies. She didn't even know if she was a good shot or not and she'd rather not find out. However she still felt that either she or Caleb should be carrying something that looked like protection around. After Ember had finished putting on the gun holster, she picked up her backpack again and put it on.

"Come on, let's go." Caleb said.

Ember nodded and followed him up the stairs. They were only on floor 12, but taking the stairs they were able to make a lot more progress a lot faster. 10 minutes later, they had reached the 22th floor and they could both feel muscle fatigue setting in as they had to climb 10 floors.

"Alright, let's go find this signal." Caleb said as he took off his backpack and put it by the wall right beside the stairs.

"It shouldn't be so hard." Ember remarked as she pulled out the scanner she'd modified to track technology as well as aliens life forms. "Alright, this way."

With the scanner, it didn't take that long for them to trace the location of the signal and when they stepped into the room that the signal was coming from, they found that it was the office of the owner of the company.

"That is one hell of a big machine..." Ember remarked.

"You can say that again." Caleb replied.

"That is one hell of a big machine." Ember repeated.

She smiled when Caleb turned to look at her, but he didn't look all that amused.

"I was just kidding..." Ember said quietly, feeling a little put out that the joke hadn't gotten the reaction she'd hoped for. "Sorry..."

"We'll kid around once we're done here." Caleb said.

Ember nodded quietly before looking at the machine which had a computer attached to it. While Caleb walked over to the computer, Ember decided to examine the remainder of the machine to see if there was anything that resembled booby traps.

"Blasted bolts." Caleb swore, making Ember look up.

"Since when do you swear?" she asked, seeing as it was the first time that she'd heard Caleb swear.

"I've always done that." Caleb replied. "Just never vocally."

"Right..." Ember said slowly. "Well, what's wrong?"

"I can't get into the system." Caleb replied.

"Well, I don't think it really matters." Ember remarked. "this machine wasn't made by humans... there's no way a human could've shifted the base of this thing, not even if there were a bunch of them."

"Alright, let's shut this thing down." Caleb said.

"No wait." Ember said as she got to her feet and walked over to the computer. "Cybele can pick up this signal, remember? We can send her a transmission through this thing, to let her know we're safe and still going strong."

"Yeah, alright." Caleb nodded.

Ember ran back to where she'd left her backpack and pulled her laptop from it before running back to the office. They recorded a message for Cybele and Ember connected her laptop to the transmitter through a wire before sending it off, knowing that Cybele would get the message.

"Done?" Caleb asked.

"Yeah." Ember replied. "We can destroy this thing now."

Ember watched as Caleb nodded and reached into the hatch that she had opened before pulling out a handful of sparking wires, which made Ember scramble back.

"What the hell?" Ember asked.

"Well you said we could destroy it." Caleb said sheepishly.

"Yeah, but I didn't mean that!" Ember replied. "What if the electricity shut your cybernetics down?"

"I... didn't really think about that..." Caleb said sheepishly.

"Just don't scare me like that again." Ember said as she closed her laptop. "Bloody hell, you're going to give me a heart attack one day."

"Now you're just being dramatic." Caleb rolled his eyes.

"Well, it does get the point across." Ember grinned as she climbed to her feet.

Caleb and Ember worked together in destroying the machine as much as they could until they were sure that the machine wasn't sending out its transmission anymore. After walking back to the stairs and collecting their backpacks, they walked down the stairs until they hit the ground floor, which was where the stairs stopped.

"How are we going to get to the garage now?" Ember asked as they stood in front of the lift.

Because of the lift crashing to the floor, there was now no possibility to get into the lift shaft as it was blocked by the lift. Even if it was possible for them to get into the shaft, Ember didn't want to risk a repeat their climb up the lift shaft.

"We could walk around the building." Caleb suggested.

"Oh yeah." Ember said before slapping herself on the forehead. "Why didn't I think of that?"

Ember looked up as Caleb chuckled a little before he lead the way to the front door, which remarkably enough was open. They walked around the building and entered the garage again.

"Here we go." Ember grinned as she walked over to one of the jeeps. "Finally some proper transport."

"Are you sure you know how to drive one of these?" Caleb asked as Ember tossed her backpack into the backseat of it.

"Hell yeah I do." Ember replied.

She walked over to a few canisters that were standing against the wall and after checking that they did contain petrol, she carried two of them over to the jeep.

"Give me a hand would you?" Ember asked, holding one of the canisters out to Caleb.

Caleb nodded and took the canister which he then put in the backseats of the jeep. After taking the second canister from Ember, she went back to fetch another two canisters.

"Alright, I think we're set." Ember said after putting one of them in the backseats. "Let's get out of here."

Ember climbed behind the wheel of the jeep while Caleb got into the passenger seat. Out of pure habit Ember put the seatbelt on before glancing over at Caleb, who was trying to copy her but wasn't all that successful in fastening the buckle.

"Here, let me help." Ember said, reaching over to help him.

Ember took the two ends of the belt out of Caleb's hands and fastened the buckle of it before leaning back to find Caleb staring at her.

"What?" Ember asked, frowning a little.

"Nothing." Caleb replied. "Thanks."

"Sure." Ember nodded.

As she turned on the engine, Ember couldn't help but wonder what was wrong with Caleb. He wasn't acting like himself at all. He wasn't acting as the resistance leader which Ember had met when she'd first arrived on FutureGate, but he wasn't acting like the friend she'd come to love either, while the two of them were back to being great friends.

"Hold on." Ember warned as she put the jeep in reverse. "This is going to be a bumpy ride."

"I'm not sure I like the sound of that." Caleb remarked.

Ember just smirked as she pulled out of the garage. After an hour or so, Ember realised that she hadn't been kidding when she had said that it was going to be a bumpy ride. Seeing as they were travelling through the wastelands of what used to be Belgium on their way to the Netherlands, the road was really bumpy.

"Isn't there another road we can take?" Caleb asked after they hit another bump.

"Not that I can see." Ember replied.

Just as the words left her mouth, they reached the edge of an asphalted road. Ember stopped the jeep and she and Caleb exchanged a brief look before looking back at the road ahead of them, both of them wondering what they were going to do.

**And that was it for chapter 15, hope you enjoyed it:)**

**I'm not sure when they next one is going to be up but it will be by the end of this week:)**

**X Abby**


	16. Chapter 16

**Hiya!**

**Sorry it took such a long time to update, real life got in the way unfortunately.**

**Thanks to everyone who's reviewed!**

**Chapter 16: Guilt.**

"Where do you think this leads?" Ember asked, glancing over at Caleb.

"I don't know." Caleb replied, his eyes still being directed at the road. "Hopefully it'll lead to... what was it?"

"Utrecht." Ember sighed as she leaned back against her seat. "We're heading to Utrecht..."

"What's wrong?" Caleb asked, turning to face Ember.

"Nothing." Ember replied. "I guess I'm just a little tired."

Without saying anything else, Ember pressed the accelerator and steered the jeep onto the road. For some reason, her mind decided that then was a good time to start feeling terrible for having taking a person's life. Even though Ember knew that she'd done the right thing, she felt extremely guilty, not to mention she felt like a murderer. When she glanced at her hand, she could practically see the blood on them.

Because she couldn't tell Caleb no matter what, Ember pushed those thoughts to the back of her mind as she focussed on the road ahead, silently hoping that he wouldn't notice that there was something else wrong other than Ember had said..

"We should've had one of these before." Caleb remarked.

"True, but there weren't any military bases in Calais." Ember replied.

"We could've found something else." Caleb remarked. "It would've saved you getting sore feet."

Ember glanced over at Caleb for a moment to find that his face starting to turn a little red, as if he was blushing.

"Are you feeling alright?" Ember asked, keeping one eye on the road.

"Yeah, why?" Caleb replied.

"I don't know." Ember replied. "You're just acting a bit... I don't know, weird I guess."

"What's that supposed to mean?" Caleb asked a little indignantly.

"I mean that you're more worried whether I'm okay than normal." Ember replied. "Normally it's just me worrying about you."

"Well you can't worry about me all the time." Caleb remarked. "Besides, it's what friends do isn't it? Look out for each other?"

"Yeah, that's true." Ember replied as she reached out and put a hand on Caleb's knee. "Thank you."

"You're welcome." Caleb grinned slightly at her.

Ember smiled back at him when he put his own hand over hers and gave it a slight squeeze. Seeing as Ember didn't have to shift gears or anything, the two of them sat like that for a while, holding each other's hand. To Ember it felt so familiar, like how things had been before Caleb had gotten sick because of that bastard called Upa Gup.

"Maybe we should stop for the day." Caleb suggested after a while of driving.

"Why?" Ember asked, glancing over at him.

"Well, you mentioned you were tired, didn't you?" Caleb asked.

"I'm fine now." Ember smiled. "Really. Besides, we're getting close to the Dutch border."

"It's not like we're in a rush to complete this mission." Caleb said.

Ember glanced over at Caleb, not understanding why he was so insistent on stopping before they'd reached the Netherlands.

"Alright." Ember said slowly, pulling her hand out of Caleb's. "We'll stop when we come across a house we can use for shelter."

"Alright." Caleb smiled a little.

Ember couldn't help but be a little creeped out by Caleb's behaviour. At first she thought that his concern for her was cute, but now it was just getting scary. He started to remind her of Bryce when he got into one of his over protective moods. Although she had to admit it was nice not having to think about safety and when they should get rest and stuff like that.

It wasn't until they crossed the border into the Netherlands that they came across a house that looked like it could be used as a shelter for the night.

After Ember had parked the jeep, she and Caleb grabbed their things from the backseats before going inside. Like the last house they'd taken shelter in, this one looked like no-one had been there in ages. By the looks of things, the house had once been lived in by a family with young children as there were a lot of toys lying around that looked like they'd belonged to a toddler.

After Ember had put her backpack on the ground, she crouched down to pick up one of the cuddly toys that were lying on the ground. The toy had the shape of a tiger and was covered in dust, which Ember brushed of it. Despite everything that she'd seen while in 2110, she still couldn't believe that even families with children hadn't been safe from the Roboidz. For a few moments Ember wondered what had happened to the children of the people who'd been turned into Shades. Although she quickly banned those thoughts from her mind as it was something she didn't want to dwell on too long if she could help it.

"Ruby?" Caleb asked.

Ember jumped when she felt his hand on her shoulder before turning to face him.

"Are you alright?" Caleb asked.

"Yeah, fine." Ember nodded. "Just thinking."

"About what?" Caleb asked.

"Oh, it's nothing important." Ember replied as she let the toy drop to the ground. "I'm going to take care of our water supply; we're starting to run out."

"How are you going to do that?" Caleb asked.

"Check if the water lines are still working." Ember replied before walking into the kitchen.

After turning on the tap, water started flowing, and even though it looked clear, Ember didn't trust it one bit. So after filling a few pots and pans with water, she put them onto the stove which surprisingly enough was still working after all that time, to boil the crap, literally, out of the water.

"What are you doing?" Caleb asked after watching the whole process of Ember turning on the stove to boil the water.

"Making sure that there aren't any harmful bacteria in the water." Ember replied.

"Oh right." Caleb nodded. "Very sensible."

Ember just nodded, giving Caleb a small smile as she sat down at the table that was standing in the kitchen. She leaned her head down on her arm which was lying on the table and she sighed deeply as her guilt decided to haunt her.

"You okay?" Caleb asked.

"A little tired." Ember replied. "That's all."

"You should get some sleep." Caleb remarked.

"I'm fine." Ember shook her head. "I'll sleep when I'm done with the water."

"Ruby, you really should sleep if you're tired." Caleb said. "You're no good to this mission if you're exhausted."

"Caleb, I'm fine." Ember replied firmly. "I'll sleep when I'm done here."

She watched as Caleb gave her a look that suggested that she had just kicked his puppy before leaving the kitchen. Ember sighed deeply and put her head on the table, resisting the urge to use it to smash in her own skull.

After a while, the water was boiling, so Ember turned off the stove to let the water cool off completely before going into the living room where she found Caleb sitting in one of the armchairs where he was absently playing with the tiger toy that Ember had been holding some time before. She sighed silently when she saw that Caleb was sulking.

"Caleb?" Ember asked softly.

"What?" Caleb replied, not looking up from the toy.

"I'm sorry I snapped at you." Ember said. "I didn't mean it..."

"It's alright." Caleb shrugged as he got to his feet and tossed the toy behind him on the chair. "Just... just promise me you'll rest the next time you're tired."

"I promise." Ember smiled slightly.

Ember was completely surprised when Caleb reached out and hugged her tightly to him. Ember froze completely as Caleb wasn't the type of guy to hug someone on his own initiative. When Ember had first met him, she had been the one to show Caleb that hugging was an okay thing to do when it came to giving comfort. She knew that Caleb had noticed her discomfort as he stopped hugging her.

"Are you alright?" Caleb asked.

"Yeah, fine." Ember nodded. "It's just... you're more concerned about my well being... or at least you're quicker to show it. Why is that?"

"I've been thinking." Caleb replied. "About the battle with Arkon."

"What about it?" Ember asked as she sat down on the footstool that went with the chair while Caleb took a seat in it.

"I kind of remember what happened." Caleb remarked. "I remember what you did to try and protect me."

"Okay..." Ember said slowly, nodding slightly.

"I don't remember it really clearly, but I do remember some of it, the way you put your own life on the line for me." Caleb said. "But Ruby, you can't keep doing that."

"I've been doing it for the past weeks." Ember remarked. "I don't really see a reason to stop."

"Because you're going to get hurt at some point." Caleb remarked. "And you carrying that gun thing, I realize that someone has too, but I'm just afraid that you're going to get hurt."

Ember smiled slightly as she went to sit on the armrest of the chair before tightly hugging Caleb, a hug which he returned.

"I know you're worried about me getting hurt, but I won't." Ember whispered. "I swear I won't. Just like you're not going to get hurt. We'll get through this okay, you'll see."

"Yeah, I know." Caleb replied as they let go of each other. "You should sleep; you look dead on your feet."

"Yeah, that's really charming." Ember rolled her eyes before smiling. "Thanks for that."

"No, I didn't mean…" Caleb started.

"Calm down." Ember laughed. "I'm only kidding."

"Oh, right." Caleb nodded.

Ember stood up from the armrest of the chair and went over to the couch, where she lay down on it in an attempt to get comfortable. Now she understood why Caleb had been acting so weird before in the jeep, he was just really worried about her and he had tried to show it to her, but it just come out in a really awkward way. Although even though Caleb told her to get some sleep, she wasn't feeling tired at all, the guilt was just eating away at her too much for her to be able to sleep. In the end, Ember decided to at least try and get some sleep, even though if it was just to give Caleb some peace of mind.

After she finally had fallen asleep, she was standing back on FutureGate, back on the upper deck from which Upa Gup had threw them down into the cold murky waters that surrounded FutureGate. Ember looked up at the dark clouds in the sky as she could hear thunder starting to rumble through the air. A few moments later, the rain started to pour down onto her, soaking her in a matter of seconds. Ember flicked her wet bangs from her face as lightning flashed through the air. She didn't know why she was standing there on the deck, but something told her that it wasn't a good thing at all seeing as the thunder got worse by the second.

"Ember Tennant." A voice said behind her.

Ember span around only to come face to face with Upa Gup.

"You." Ember gasped, stepping back on instinct. "You can't be here... you're dead."

"That's right, Ember Tennant. You killed me." Upa said, stepping forwards. "Just to protect that boy."

"You had it coming!" Ember yelled. "You killed millions of people! Their blood is on your hands!"

"But my blood is on yours." Upa smirked evilly, making Ember stare at him. "You killed me, Ember."

"You had it coming!" Ember yelled back over the sounds of the storm. "You tried to use Caleb to get to me; you brought this down on yourself! You've only got yourself to blame for your death!"

"You're no better than me." Upa continued. "You've got my blood on your hands, Ember. And it will never come off."

"No." Ember shook her head as she backed away from Upa. "No, I'm nothing like you!"

"Aren't you?" Upa asked. "Look at your hands, Ember."

Ember looked down at her hands to find that they were sticky with black blood. Even though the rain fell on her hands, the blood didn't wash off.

"No!" Ember yelled as Upa laughed. "I'm nothing like you!"

"I think you'll find you are." Upa laughed. "You already killed one person; you will get the boy killed soon enough."

"No!" Ember screamed. "I'm not like you; I will never be like you! I won't let Caleb get hurt! I won't!"

When Ember felt hands closing around her upper arms, she started to panic and fight back as hard as she could. It wasn't until she had opened her eyes that she realized that she'd woken up and she was actually trying to fight of Caleb, who had grabbed hold of her. His hands had a vice like grip on her arms, having made it nearly impossible for Ember to fight back.

"It's okay." Caleb said as Ember stopped fighting. "You're safe; it was just a nightmare, Ruby."

As Caleb let go of her arms, Ember sat up and looked around for a moment, feeling confused and to reassure herself that she was in fact in the house that she and Caleb had taken shelter in, to find that she was still in the house where she and Caleb had decided to take shelter for the night.

"What's wrong?" Caleb asked, sitting down beside Ember.

"It was just a nightmare." Ember replied. "It wasn't that bad."

"Not that bad?" Caleb repeated in disbelief. "Ruby, you were screaming in your sleep."

"It was nothing." Ember lied as she got to her feet. "I'm fine, Caleb."

Seeing that she was drenched in sweat, Ember walked into the kitchen to get some of the water she'd boiled to freshen up. After soaking a kitchen towel in the water, she wrung it out and started to run it over her neck in an attempt to calm down a little as the dream had left her really panicked. After running the towel over her face, she saw that Caleb was standing by the door, watching her with a look of concern on his face.

"I really am okay." Ember said, knowing what Caleb was thinking about.

"You don't look it." Caleb remarked. "Ruby, you were screaming in your sleep, there's no way you can be fine."

"Well, I am." Ember lied, tossing the towel onto the counter. "The nightmare wasn't so bad; it might've looked bad to you because I screamed."

Ember stopped for a moment, wondering what the hell she was babbling about before shaking her head.

"I'm fine, really." She stated. "Didn't you get any sleep at all?"

"I'm not tired." Caleb shook his head.

"Right..." Ember said slowly, giving Caleb a suspicious glance. "Sorry, but I don't believe you. Go on, get some sleep. I'll be busy refilling our water supply anyway."

"Are you sure?" Caleb asked.

"Yeah, I'm sure." Ember nodded. "Go on, rest."

Caleb nodded silently before walking out of the kitchen. It wasn't until Ember had finished refilling their water supply and that she was sure that Caleb was asleep before she let her tears over the nightmare fall. The guilt over what she'd done was eating her up, but there was nothing she could do to make it stop.

**So that's it for chapter 16, sorry it didn't have any action in it, not to worry though! The next chapter is going to have some in it!**

**X Abby**


	17. Chapter 17

**Hiya! Sorry about not updating sooner! Thanks so much for the reviews!**

**Chapter 17: Human Contact**

By the time that Caleb woke up, Ember had made sure that all traces of her having cried were gone so he wouldn't start worrying again, which was the last thing that Ember wanted him to do. She glanced up from her laptop as Caleb started to shift around before opening his eyes.

"Good morning." Ember smiled as Caleb sat up.

"Good morning." Caleb replied before rubbing his eyes. "You know, couches ruin your back."

"Yeah, that's true." Ember replied. "Try stretching, it'll help get the stiffness out of your back."

"Try what?" Caleb asked.

"Stretching." Ember repeated. "You know that thing I did yesterday morning?"

Ember smiled a little as Caleb considered this for a moment before actually trying it. Ember could tell that his back was stiff seeing as she could hear his back cracking from where she was sitting, which was a good 5 feet away.

"Ouch." Ember grimaced in sympathy as Caleb did the same.

"You can say that again." Caleb remarked as he rubbed his lower back. "I'm never doing that again."

Ember smiled as she got to her feet and started packing away her laptop.

"I plotted a route already." Ember said when she saw Caleb's confused face. "Although, I want to teach you how to drive the jeep first."

"Really?" Caleb asked, his eyes lighting up as if it was Christmas morning.

"Yeah, really." Ember smiled. "I mean, suppose that I hurt my leg. You'll have to be able to drive because I can't if I'm hurt."

"This is so cool." Caleb grinned.

Ember laughed as she lead Caleb out of the house and over to the jeep, where Caleb climbed behind the wheel.

"Alright." Ember said after climbing into the passenger seat. "Now, driving a car is really simple."

Ember wasn't wrong about that, driving a car, when you knew how, was really easy. It was the explaining bit to someone who'd never even seen a car, or in this case a jeep, that was the hard part. It wasn't until 3 hours later that Caleb had finally gotten the concept of how to turn on the engine and what pedals to press after putting the car in 'Drive' or 'Reverse' and which pedal to push to brake, that he was actually able to drive around a little. Seeing as both Caleb and Ember agreed on the concept of 'practice makes perfect' they decided that Caleb would drive them to where the signal was coming from while Ember navigated, and unknown to Caleb, she kept keeping an eye on his driving skills.

"How am I doing?" Caleb asked when they were driving for an hour at the most.

"You're doing great." Ember smiled. "Just keep going like this, we should be close to the signal in the next 10 minutes."

"Alright." Caleb nodded as he looked over at Ember.

"Eyes on the road." Ember warned as she put her hand on the wheel and pulled it slightly to make sure that they didn't crash against the ruin of a building.

"Sorry." Caleb said, returning his eyes to the road again. "Guess I'm not all that good in steering yet."

"You'll get the hang of it." Ember smiled. "Don't worry about that. just remember to keep your eyes on the road."

"you don't always have them on the road." Caleb countered.

"well, I'm slightly more experienced than you are." Ember smiled.

"yeah, that's true." Caleb nodded, returning the smile.

15 minutes later, Caleb pulled the jeep over as they had arrived at their destination. Ember put her laptop away and grabbed the life forms scanner from her backpack instead. After turning it on, she was surprised to find that the scanner was actually picking up life forms.

"There are humans here." Ember remarked.

"What?" Caleb asked, his eyes lighting up again. "People actually survived?"

"Looks like it." Ember replied before turning to look at Caleb. "Caleb, I think you should cover your cybernetics."

"Why?" Caleb asked, frowning at her.

"I don't think they're going to react all that well to them." Ember admitted. "I mean we don't know how they're going to react to your cybernetics, I'd rather be safe than sorry."

"Yeah, you're right." Caleb nodded.

Ember smiled slightly before grabbing her backpack from the backseat and getting out of the Jeep, palming the keys just in case and putting them in the breast pocket of her vest.

"Which way?" Caleb asked, after they had hidden their backpacks in case some scavengers wanted to scavenge stuff from them.

"This way." Ember replied, pointing ahead of them.

Caleb and Ember started walking and it didn't take them all that long to reach a church, from which the signal of people was coming.

"Makes sense they would seek refuge in the church." Ember remarked as Caleb pulled his hoodie up over his head.

"Why?" Caleb asked.

"Religion is comforting to most people." Ember replied. "And churches are considered to be houses of God."

"Really?" Caleb asked.

"Yeah." Ember replied before glancing over at him. "Are you ready for this? I mean, you're leader of the FutureGate Resistance. They're bound to have a hell of a lot of questions."

"Think so." Caleb replied before grinning. "I can't believe that people actually survived!"

Ember smiled as Caleb's enthusiasm, but she couldn't help but feel a little wary of what was about to happen. She didn't know anything about how life was like for the people in 2110, but she doubted that it was anything like she was used too. another thing that she doubted was the faction, atleast Ember assumed that they were going to meet a faction, were about to meet were going to be thrilled if they heard about who Caleb's parents were. If that fact became known, Ember could foresee that they were going to be in a lot of trouble. Another fact that didn't sit well with Ember was that there weren't any guards around, which she had been expecting.

As the two of them walked up to the front door of the church, Ember couldn't help but keep her hand on her weapon, ready to draw it if she had too. It was Caleb who ended up opening the door and when the two of them stepped inside of the church, they found that there was no one inside at all.

"This is weird." Caleb remarked, his voice echoing slightly through the empty church.

"I know." Ember agreed, lowering her voice to a whisper.

Ember slowly looked around, her hand tightening on the gun. Something about this all was giving a really bad feeling; it was one she couldn't place. She slowly pulled out the scanner with her left hand, keeping her right on the gun at all times and flicked the switch to turn it on. It was clearly stating that there were human life forms in the church.

"How come no one is here?" Caleb asked, having lowered his voice to a whisper too.

"I think they're hiding out in the catacombs." Ember replied, putting the scanner away again.

"Want to go check it out?" Caleb asked.

Ember nodded and started to lead the way over towards the catacombs at the back of the church. She figured that seeing as she was the one who was carrying the gun, she had to be the one to take the lead. She was glad that Caleb got that hint as he kept walking behind her. It wasn't until Caleb and Ember started to descent into the catacombs that they came across humans. And the way it happened shocked both of them. Before they knew it, they were surrounded by men, old, adult and teenagers alike, all of them carrying either a sword or spear or some other form of self crafted weapon.

Knowing that there was nothing to be done about this, Ember slowly let go of the gun and raised her hands away from her body.

"We mean you no harm." Ember said slowly and clearly so everyone could hear.

The men exchanged looks for a moment as Ember stepped back a little so she was standing closer to Caleb.

"Talk to them." Ember whispered from the corner of her mouth.

"What do I say?" Caleb replied.

"Anything." Ember stated.

"Who are you?" one of the men demanded.

Ember looked over at the man and she immediately saw that this was the leader. He looked to be about 50 years, with a lot of battle scars covering his bare arms and face. He reminded Ember of that guy from the film Avatar, the only thing that he was missing was a cigar hanging out of his mouth.

"I'm Caleb." Caleb said. "Leader of the FutureGate Resistance."

As soon as Caleb had said his name and FutureGate, the soldiers started whispering amongst themselves. Ember couldn't catch everything, but she could hear stuff like 'it's Caleb' or 'he's just a legend.' this lead Ember to think that maybe the transmissions that Caleb had sent out had been received, but they just lacked the capacities to send a reply, or they thought that it was just an old transmission that was stuck on a feed loop. It was clear that Caleb had missed all of this as he just kept on talking.

"This is my faithful recruit, Ruby." he said.

Ember kept back a scoff. You can't even begin to understand how faithful and everything I've done for you, she thought to herself.

"The name's Orion." the man said. "Men, stand down."

Ember looked around as the men stood down as Orion had ordered them, once the last man had stood down, Ember allowed herself to relax her grip on the gun just a tiny bit.

"Follow me." Orion stated. "I'll show you to our leader."

Caleb and Ember exchanged a look before following Orion. It didn't come as a surprise that the men followed them in a form of an escort, but it didn't sit well with Ember at all, seeing as they had their weapons ready to attack if they had too.

Orion led the way over to a meeting room, on the way there, the group attracted a lot of attention and a lot of people were coming over to watch, so much so that they had to be held back by the soldiers.

"Oh my god." Ember whispered after seeing the conditions that the people were living in.

Basically it reminded her of the Terminator movies, people were packed together and their sleeping spaces were basically thin mattresses or blankets in most cases. The conditions were dirty too and Ember couldn't imagine what it was like living in conditions like that, let alone what kind of diseases were raging around.

"We don't get a lot of visitors here." Orion said, clearly thinking that was the reason why Ember had said 'oh my god'. "Not since the Roboid invasion of '05."

Caleb and Ember exchanged a look at this, knowing that that was the year that Caleb had woken up. Orion pushed a door open and revealed a war room or at least it was supposed to look like a war room with maps hanging on the walls and a table in the middle that had a map of the city spread out on it. Leaning over the map were an older man and a girl about Ember's age standing beside him. It was clear to Ember that these two people were father and daughter as they were looking like each other a lot. The man was tall and starting to turn grey, leading Ember to think that this man was around 50 years of age. The girl was tall as well, with golden blond hair that she'd tied back in a long French braid.

"Quinn, Tweaks, got some people you're gonna wanna meet." Orion said.

'Quinn' and 'Tweaks' looked up and Ember could see an identical set of sparkling blue eyes giving her and Caleb scrutinizing looks.

"Strangers." 'Tweaks' said, before turning to look at her father. "Bloody hell, dad..."

"I know, honey." 'Quinn' nodded, putting his hand on his daughter's shoulder. "We don't get many strangers around here. You make an odd pair."

"Dad, be nice." Tweaks scolded. "I'm Tweaks; this is my father, Quinn, leader of the resistance faction Wolf."

"I'm Caleb." Caleb said. "Leader of the FutureGate Resistance. This is my recruit, Ruby."

"Caleb?" Quinn repeated. "Where have I heard that name before?"

"Dad, it was on the transmissions we got, remember?" Tweaks said before turning to Caleb and Ember. "It's great to meet you. You know, most people thought you were just a legend from when the Roboidz had just invaded Earth."

"Well, I'm not a legend as far as I know." Caleb said before smirking. "Well, not yet anyway."

"Your head still has to fit through the door remember." Ember remarked, shaking her head a little before turning her attention back to Tweaks and Quinn. "It's an honour to be here, you've got no idea how good it is to see other human faces."

"You mentioned you were on FutureGate?" Quinn asked.

"Yes." Caleb nodded.

"Looks like all the stories are true then." Tweaks remarked before glancing at her dad. "Told you."

"Alright, no need to get smug about it, honey." Quinn smiled, patting his daughter on the shoulder.

Ember couldn't help but smile a little at this; clearly Quinn cared about his daughter a lot.

"Anyway, we're glad you're here." Quinn continued.

"What on Earth happened on that ship?" Tweaks blurted out. "Three months ago the Roboidz and Shades just keeled over!"

"Tweaks." Quinn scolded.

"Come on dad, don't tell my you're not aching to know what happened!" Tweaks replied.

"You're right, I am." Quinn nodded. "You could've asked this a little more tactfully."

Ember smirked a little as Tweaks scoffed. It reminded her of how she used to talk with her father before his death.

"Neuros has been defeated." Caleb said, sounding somewhat proudly. "Ruby here was the one to remove her Bio-Rod."

"You did?" Tweaks asked, staring at Ember. "That's... that's..."

"Very brave." Orion remarked crossing his arms over his chest.

"Well, I couldn't have done it if wasn't for Caleb's training or his brilliance at distracting Roboidz." Ember remarked. "If he hadn't, I wouldn't be standing here. Besides, Caleb was the one to end Arkon, the Roboid leader, so it wasn't all me."

"Modest too." Quinn laughed. "Well, I'm sure you two will fit right in here."

"Fit right in?" Caleb repeated, raising an eyebrow at the man.

"Well yes, that's why you're here, isn't it?" Tweaks asked.

"Actually we're trying to trace signals to their source." Ember replied. "We've got no intention in staying, there's more signals we've got to check."

"There's no harm in staying a few days, Ruby." Caleb remarked. "We could do with a few days rest."

"Suppose..." Ember said slowly.

She didn't have any intention in staying; she didn't trust that Orion dude as far as she could throw him. Something about him felt really wrong, as if he was going to betray his people at any given moment. Most of all Ember didn't like the look that he was giving her and Caleb, it almost looked like he was planning to kill them in their sleep.

"So you two beat Neuros." Orion stated. "And Arkon, nice job. What the hell makes you think...?"

"Orion!" Tweaks said sharply, interrupting him. "These people are our guests and you will treat them with respect, got that?"

"Yes ma'am." Orion nodded after shooting a glare in Caleb and Ember's direction.

"Good." Tweaks nodded, her eyes shooting fire at the man. "Now get out!"

"Excuse me?" Orion asked. "ma'am, I must point out..."

"I said get out." Tweaks repeated. "And send Fix in here."

Ember watched as Orion shot Tweaks a death glare before actually leaving the war room.

"Cheery bugger, isn't he?" Ember remarked, raising an eyebrow as she stared at the door.

"That's just Orion." Tweaks shrugged. "Always distrusting of new people."

Both Ember and Caleb looked around when the door opened again and another man, who looked to be Orion's age and weight class when it came to muscles mass.

"At ease, Fix." Quinn said as Fix stood to attention. "Well, Caleb, Ruby, I think you two have had a long journey, so I suppose that some food and rest would be more than welcome."

"I wouldn't say no to some food." Caleb remarked.

"Whatever Caleb wants is fine with me." Ember stated.

She didn't really care about either sleep or food at that moment; all she cared about was getting out of there before Caleb decided that lowering his hood was a good idea. Something told her that the people there weren't going be very welcoming when it came to people who had cybernetic components. Just when the thought had came across Ember's mind, Caleb started lowering his hood and all hell started to break loose.

**Well, that's it for Chapter 17. Sorry about the cliffhanger, I'll try not to leave it for too long! Pictures of what the new speaking characters look like should be up on the 2110 forums tomorrow if all goes well:)**

**Now, I think you all noticed it by now, ubt I must mention that Tweaks was named for 'Oddments and Tweaks', fellow author of Mission 2110 fanfics. The reason for this is because she's been such a great help when it comes to writing my stories, always willing to give me advice or correct me if I'm not sure about something I've written. Once again, Tweaks, thank you so bloody much for all the help you've given me so far and for being a great friend! *Hugs* (be sure to check out her stories if you haven't already, she's an absolutely awesome writer! ;) )**


	18. Chapter 18

**Hiya! Thanks for the lovely reviews! **

**Hope I didn't leave you guys hanging to long on last chapter's cliffhanger! :D**

**Enjoy!**

**Chapter 18: Capture**

The second that Caleb lowered his hood, all hell broke loose and Ember panicked slightly when she saw that none of the Wolves seemed to appreciate the fact that Caleb had cybernetics.

"Guards!" Quinn bellowed as the man called Fix sprang into action.

Fix launched himself at Caleb, giving both him and Ember ample time to properly realize what was going on before they started to fight back. While Caleb started to shove Fix back to stop him from grabbing hold of him, Ember pulled out her gun and aimed it straight at the man's head.

"Let him go!" Ember yelled, fighting to keep her aim steady as her hands were trembling with fear of what was going to happen. "Now!"

Ember glanced over at the door to find that there were multiple guards; mostly the ones who had been part of the ambush, rushing into the room and Ember shifted her aim towards them.

"Don't move!" Ember bellowed making the soldiers stop in their tracks before she turned her aim back at Fix, who was still trying to get a hold on Caleb. "I said let him go! I swear to God I will shoot you if you don't let go of him right now!"

"Ruby, no!" Caleb yelled as Ember cocked the gun. "Don't do it!"

Before Ember could even consider pulling the trigger, she was grabbed from behind. A strong hand clamped around her wrist and pointed the gun up into the air so it couldn't be used against anyone.

"Let go of me!" Ember yelled as her other arm was twisted up behind her back. "Get the hell off!"

There wasn't anything that Ember could do as she was being pulled back, away from Caleb and as soon as that happened, all the other soldiers that had rushed into the room jumped him.

"Leave him alone!" Ember screamed. "Get of him!"

"This is for your own good, Ruby." Tweaks' voice said behind her.

Ember was completely helpless as she watched Caleb trying to fight of the men that were jumping him, but in the end it proved useless and he was overpowered.

"I didn't do anything!" Caleb yelled as he struggled against the soldiers holding him. "Let me go!"

"You're cybernetic." Quinn said coldly. "You must to be taken care of."

"Please, let us explain!" Ember yelled. "We can explain everything if you'll just..."

"We're going to take care of you, Ruby." Quinn said. "It's clear to me that you've been brainwashed."

"What?" both Ember and Caleb exclaimed at the same time.

"I didn't do anything to her!" Caleb yelled. "She's my friend!"

"Take him away." Quinn ordered.

"No!" Ember yelled. "You can't do this! Caleb!"

"Ruby, do something!" Caleb yelled as the soldiers started pulling him out of the room. "Ruby!"

"I'll find you!" Ember yelled back just before the door closed. "I promise!"

Once the door closed, Ember started to struggle against Tweaks' grip and it was completely unexpected when Tweaks let go of her. Ember turned around and raised her gun at Quinn and Tweaks, gripping it tightly in both hands.

"Call them back." Ember ordered.

"Ruby, I've seen a lot of killers in my day, and I know that you're not one of them." Quinn remarked. "Put that thing away."

"Not before you order your men to release Caleb." Ember replied, trying not to show that she was actually terrified about what could happen to him. "He never did anything to you." "That's where you're wrong." Quinn replied. "Simply by existing he puts us in danger. He can't be trusted. He has to be executed."

Ember stared at Quinn as he said this and that got her blood boiling. As she pointed her gun at Quinn, she found that her aim wasn't trembling anymore as she got angrier by the second.

"I swear to bloody God." Ember whispered her voice deathly calm. "I will kill you if you don't order your men to release Caleb. I will kill anyone in my way; I won't stop for anything or anyone until I've found him."

Because Ember had been so focused on looking at Quinn, she had missed Tweaks pulling out her sword that she'd kept at her side in a scabbard. Ember saw a flash of metal and before she knew it, she felt the cold metal tip of it pressing against her throat.

"Move and it'll be the last thing that you'll ever do." Tweaks said, her voice matching Ember's.

The two girls stared at each other for a moment, both of them wondering who was going to make the first move. After a minute of both of them standing completely frozen, just staring at each other, Ember moved first by disarming her gun and shoving it back into its holster. Tweaks seemed to nod slightly before putting her sword back into its scabbard.

"Ruby, that freak isn't your friend." Quinn said calmly as if Ember hadn't been threatening anyone in his faction or himself. "He brainwashed you into thinking he is."

"Oh my god, you actually believe all this crap, don't you?" Ember asked, running her hands through her hair in disbelief and frustration.

"Hey, it's not our fault you were able to lead the good life on FutureGate." Tweaks remarked. "Being all safe and protected from harm."

"Safe and protected on FutureGate? D'you actually believe that? It's probably even more dangerous on FutureGate than it is out in the wastelands." Ember asked before starting to laugh.

It only lasted for a moment before Ember turned serious again.

"I haven't been on FutureGate for as long as you think, it's been maybe a month, maybe less, I don't know and I don't care." Ember continued. "But I do know that FutureGate is anything but safe, it was the headquarters of the Roboidz for God's sake! So don't you dare to start lecturing me about when something's safe or not, because you've got no idea! And you know what else, if it hadn't been for Caleb, one of the best friends I've ever had, I wouldn't be here to talk to you right now. So don't start to me about being protected from harm, because since I arrived here, I've been in constant danger. And the only person to keep me safe, to keep me sane, through the dangers that I've seen, was Caleb. That is why I will keep fighting for him, no matter what, and why I am going to stop you from hurting him."

Ember fell silent for a moment, wondering if the message was sinking in and whether it was enough to convince Quinn and Tweaks to release Caleb she didn't know.

"None the less, anything that is cybernetic has to be destroyed." Quinn said, shattering Ember's hope. "Those have been the rules of our faction for over a decade, we're not going to change them just because he is the one to safe mankind."

"Then those rules archaic." Ember snapped. "I will not stand by and let you kill him! I am going to stop you if I have too!"

"Dad, I think we should show her what happened because of people like Caleb." Tweaks remarked, sounding too calm for Ember's liking.

"Yes." Quinn agreed. "Go ahead, honey."

Tweaks nodded and grabbed Ember's arm before pulling her out of the war room.

"Let go." Ember said, trying to pull her arm free. "I said, let go of me!"

"Alright, relax." Tweaks replied, holding up her hands in a placating gesture. "You know it's not like we're not grateful to you and Caleb for getting rid of Neuros and all that, but that's just the rules around here, if you're cybernetic, you're gonna be executed."

"I'm a pretty good judge in character and I can see that you're a nice person. Just but nice, you'd rather not do this." Ember said, stopping in her tracks and turning to face Tweaks. "You seriously aren't bothered about the fact that your father just gave the order to have an innocent man, a good man, killed? I don't believe that."

"You're right, I don't like it." Tweaks shrugged. "But like I said, those are the rules, nothing I can do to change my father's mind. That and you don't know what Cybers can do."

"Cybers?" Ember repeated.

"Cybernetic people." Tweaks replied. "Come on."

Ember stared at Tweaks before letting her lead the way to where ever they were going. As it turned out, they were just going deeper into the catacombs until they got to a closed door.

"This is what happens if you let Cybers into your life." Tweaks said as she unlocked a door.

Without warning, Tweaks opened the door and Ember looked inside only to see something that made her feel sick in an instant.

"Oh my god..." Ember whispered.

The room was filled with children, only they weren't normal children like Ember knew children to be. After just a second of looking at them, she could see that these children had gone through the shading process as they were all just standing in one spot. None of them were moving and were just staring at one spot, their faces blank and their eyes looking empty as if they weren't even alive.

"Oh my god..." Ember whispered, feeling completely stunned at the sight before her. "What... why are they still here? the Shades..."

"Are dead, yeah." Tweaks nodded before closing the door and locking it again. "As it turns out, the kids are rigged to a different power supply that we've yet to find, so we haven't been able to release them from this hell."

"Oh my god..." Ember whispered again.

She leaned back against a wall before letting herself slide down it into a sitting position.

"Why the hell did you show me that?" Ember asked, looking up at Tweaks.

"Cybers did this to them." Tweaks replied calmly. "Those children used to be a part of this community, we didn't know it at the time, but Neuros sent Cybers to invade us, they snatched children left and right whenever they could. We couldn't stop them, the Cybers were too strong."

"Why?" Ember asked.

"To turn the kids into Bio-Rods." Tweaks replied.

"Bio-Rods?" Ember asked, staring at Tweaks with wide eyes. "What is that supposed to mean?"

"The stuff inside the Bio-Rods?" Tweaks asked to which Ember nodded. "That's the essence of a person; call it a person's soul. Stored inside a Bio-Rod to use as a power source after they've gone through the shading process. We've got a legend that says a person's soul was the most powerful power source on the face of the planet, after the First Battle, Neuros needed a power source to sustain the Roboidz, so she put the theory to the test."

Ember stared at Tweaks, she knew the truth about who had designed the Bio-Rods, but the Wolves' legend wasn't that far off. If she hadn't been feeling sick already however, Ember would've started feeling sick after that revelation. The thought that the Bio-Rods contained the essence of people's lives was just terrible that Ember felt the bile rising in her throat. Before she could stop it, she scrambled to her hands and knees and threw up.

"Yeah, that was my reaction too when my father told me." Tweaks sighed as Ember coughed after the last of the bile left her mouth.

Ember gasped as she sat back on her knees, trying to focus on pushing the sick feeling away and focus on more important things, like finding Caleb. Once she was sure that she wasn't going to throw up again, she wiped her mouth with the already dirty sleeve of her jumpsuit.

"Caleb isn't like that." Ember shook her head as she got to her feet. "He would never harm a child in his entire life. He wouldn't..."

"You'll get over it." Tweaks remarked. "Everyone who's been under the influence of a Cyber does."

"Stop saying that!" Ember yelled. "I'm not under any kind of influence! Caleb is my friend! He's a good person; he would never hurt a human in his life!"

"Yeah yeah, heard that before." Tweaks rolled her eyes. "Come on, I'll show you where you can sleep."

Ember stared at Tweaks as she started to walk away from the door. Knowing that Ember didn't have another choice, she followed Tweaks away from the door without looking back, still feeling sick at what she'd just seen. Immediately her thoughts turned to Caleb and she hoped that they weren't going to show this to him. She knew Caleb well enough to know that he was going to think that all of that was his fault, as he hadn't been able to stop the Roboidz sooner. As Ember followed Tweaks through the catacombs, they came across several families with young children. Even though the conditions they were living weren't all that great, they looked happy none the less.

"Here we are then." Tweaks said as she stepped into a room.

Ember followed Tweaks and saw that the room looked a little like a public ward as there were a lot of beds, well, more like mattresses with a blanket and pillow, lined up at either side of the room.

"This is where you're gonna be sleeping with all the other newcomers." Tweaks explained. "Mind you, right now you're the only one here, but we're expecting more of them to come in tomorrow evening, so pick any bed you like."

"I don't care about sleeping." Ember stated as Tweaks started to move to the door. "I want to see Caleb."

"Sorry, can't do that." Tweaks shook her head as she turned to face Ember.

"You don't understand." Ember stated. "Caleb is innocent; he would never ever harm a human!"

"Why the hell would you care about a Cyber so much anyway?" Tweaks asked, crossing her arms over her chest. "They're nothing but trouble."

"That 'Cyber' is my grandson." Ember snapped, coming close to losing her temper. "So shut your bloody mouth before I'm going to do something you'll regret."

"Wait, he's your grandson?" Tweaks repeated, looking surprised. "You're younger than him!"

"Yeah, I know." Ember replied. "Please, just let me explain all of this."

"I'm listening." Tweaks nodded, crossing her arms over her chest.

"Caleb is my grandson." Ember said. "I'm not lying about that, I swear I'm not. Caleb called children from 2010 to help him defeat Neuros; I ended up there because I got access to the program that he used to recruit children. After Neuros was defeated, we found out that my future is going to be giving birth to Caleb's father."

"Let me get this straight." Tweaks said slowly. "You're saying that you were summoned from over a hundred years in the past to fight in a war that's not even yours to fight?"

"Yes." Ember replied. "That's what I'm saying."

"Why on earth would you even do that?" Tweaks asked. "I mean, look at you, you're not a warrior."

"And what's that supposed to mean?" Ember demanded, putting her hands on her hips. "I fought a war; I think I'm entitled to say that, that turned me into a warrior as I know more about doing battle than I did before coming into the war. So why would think that I'm not one?"

"No-one would ever go to war that's not theirs to fight." Tweaks stated. "That's just mental."

"Alright, you wanna know the reason why I went?" Ember asked. "Because children were disappearing from all across the UK. Young children not much older than the ones that you've shown me not 5 minutes ago, the authorities were at a loss, so I took matters into my own hands. Me and a community of friends. That's why I went to fight in a war that isn't even mine to fight, to make sure that children wouldn't have too. And d'you know what, I'm glad I went because if I hadn't gone, I wouldn't have met my grandson. His cybernetics weren't given to him by Roboidz; they were given to him by his mother and father, so he would survive an illness that he was dying from. I'm bloody proud of everything that Caleb's accomplished and I'm not about to stand by and let your father kill my grandson. You can forget about that."

Ember stalked over to the door and was about to leave the room when Tweaks caught her arm.

"What?" Ember demanded as she turned to face Tweaks while she pulled her arm free.

"If the Cyber is your grandson, how come he looks at you as if he doesn't know you?" Tweaks asked, looking genuinely curious about it.

"Because he got sick." Ember replied. "He's got the cybernetics to keep this mystery illness in check, the cybernetics failed maybe a week ago and his memories got wiped."

"Why don't you just tell him who you are?" Tweaks asked.

"Yeah, because that'll work well once it's time for me to go home." Ember scoffed. "How would you feel if you knew you were fighting a war with your Nan and at the end of it, she's going to be sent back 100 years into the past and the chances of you seeing her again is zero? That's why I can't and won't tell him because I don't want him to go through that."

Ember and Tweaks just stared at each other for a long time before Tweaks sighed.

"You really care about that Cyber, don't you?" Tweaks asked.

"I swear to God, you call him Cyber one more time and I'll..." Ember started, feeling her blood starting to boil with anger again.

"Alright, calm down." Tweaks replied, looking unimpressed catching Ember off guard. "Look, it's clear you care about Caleb."

"Are you deaf or something?" Ember asked, crossing her arms over her chest. "How many times do I have to repeat that he's my grandson? Of course I bloody care about him. I've killed to keep him safe for Christ sake's."

"Will you just calm down already?" Tweaks asked, still looking unimpressed. "I'll probably be able to make sure that you can visit Caleb, I'm not sure how long though."

"Wait what?" Ember asked, feeling her anger fading in an instant. "You can arrange that?"

"I am the daughter of the faction's resistance leader around here." Tweaks replied. "It comes with certain privileges."

"Won't you get in trouble for this or something?" Ember asked.

"Nope." Tweaks replied. "Do you want to see Caleb or not?"

"Yeah, I do." Ember replied eagerly.

"Alright, follow me." Tweaks said.

"Wait, let me ask something first." Ember remarked. "I'm not stupid, it's clear that you're going to lock me up in this room so I won't do anything 'stupid' as you see it during the night. I'm wondering though, normally you would take weapons away from prisoners, but here I am, carrying a gun ready to be pulled at any second to kill. Why is that?"

"Because everyone here is required to carry some sort of weapon." Tweaks replied. "That and like my father said, you're not a killer, at least, not a killer of the innocent."

"I wouldn't exactly call your behaviour innocent." Ember remarked.

"Go on then, shoot me." Tweaks stated, holding her arms out slightly to present an easier target. "Mind you, do that and you'll not only have the blood of another person on your hands, you'll also be executed for murder immediately and you won't be able to help Caleb."

Ember stared at Tweaks, she hadn't expected an answer like that, and she certainly hadn't expected Tweaks to get her to stop arguing like that. She had all the bases covered; there was nothing that Ember could pick out to argue about.

"You know, despite the fact that I don't really like you at the moment, you're good." Ember remarked.

Tweaks didn't reply to this and walked out of the room. Ember sighed as she followed her out and they started to go deeper into the Catacombs until after a while they reached a door that was guarded by the guy called Fix and a young boy who looked younger than Ember was.

"You two, take fifteen." Tweaks ordered.

"Ma'am?" Fix asked, frowning at Tweaks and Ember.

"You heard me, Fix." Tweaks replied. "Go on, take fifteen."

"Ma'am, the rules concerning a commanding officer and a prisoner..." the boy started.

"Yes, I'm well aware of the rules, Trip." Tweaks interrupted. "You two can go."

The two men exchanged a look and for a moment Ember was sure that they weren't going to leave.

"Now!" Tweaks ordered.

Fix and Trip exchanged another look before leaving their posts. As soon as they had turned the corner, Tweaks opened the door and stepped through it. Ember stepped into the room behind her and after looking around for just a second, she saw Caleb sitting on a bench in one of the 3 cells.

"Caleb." Ember said before rushing over to the cell.

"Ruby." Caleb replied, getting to his feet.

"Oh my god, what did they do to you?" Ember asked, seeing the bruising in Caleb's face when he reached the bars and the way he was limping.

"They didn't stop hitting me." Caleb replied, sounding scared as tears started to form in his eyes.

"Shhh, it's okay." Ember whispered, reaching through the bars and putting her hand against the non-bruised side of his face before turning to face Tweaks. "Open the door."

"I can't do that." Tweaks shook her head.

"Tweaks, please." Ember begged. "I'm begging you."

Tweaks sighed deeply before nodding and grabbing the keys of the desk and tossing them over Ember.

"I'll stand guard." Tweaks stated. "You've got 10 minutes tops."

As Tweaks walked to the outer door, Ember fumbled with the keys for a few moments before unlocking the door of the cell and throwing it open. As soon as the door was open, Ember threw her arms around Caleb and hugged him tightly to her as his tears started to fall.

"Shhh." Ember whispered, hugging Caleb tightly. "I'm here; everything's going to be alright."

"They keep talking about killing me." Caleb cried. "I don't wanna die, Ruby."

"They won't kill you." Ember replied. "I promise, I'll find a way to get you of here before that, alright?"

Ember had a good look at Caleb before realizing that he wasn't moving his cybernetic arm.

"What the hell did they do to your arm?" Ember asked.

"I don't know." Caleb shook his head. "They used some kind of device and it stopped working, the switch won't work. I can't turn my arm back on. Ruby, I don't want to be here."

"I know, I'm working on finding a way to get you out of here." Ember replied, hugging Caleb again. "Everything is going to be alright, you've just got to hold on, alright? Show them that you're the better person."

"How long?" Caleb asked.

"I'm sorry, I don't know." Ember replied. "I'm trying everything I can."

Ember looked up when the door opened and Tweaks stepped back into the room.

"They're coming back." Tweaks said. "We got to go."

"No, please." Caleb pleaded. "Ruby, please don't leave me here. I don't want to be alone."

"Ruby, we've got to go now." Tweaks warned.

"Just one more minute." Ember told Tweaks, trying to remain calm for Caleb's sake despite the fact that she was panicking a little as she turned to Caleb again. "I'll come back, I swear, I'll come back for you."

"Ruby, we're out of time." Tweaks stated. "We've got to go."

Without warning, Tweaks pulled Caleb and Ember apart and shoved Caleb back into the cell before slamming the door shut.

"I'll come back for you." Ember said as Tweaks pulled her towards the door, tossing the keys on the table as she did. "I swear, I'll comeback for you."

"Ruby, please, don't leave me here!" Caleb yelled just before the door was slammed closed behind Ember. "Ruby!"

"Let me go!" Ember yelled, struggling to get free from Tweaks' grip. "Get off!"

"Time's up." Tweaks simply replied as they walked past Fix and Trip.

Ember looked back at the door that lead into the cellblock where she could still hear Caleb yelling for her. She swore to herself that she'd find a way to get Caleb out of there, if it was the last thing she did.

**So that's it for chapter 18. **

**Hope it was a satisfying end to last chapter's cliffhanger!:D The next chapter should be up on Friday!**

**X Abby**


	19. Chapter 19

**Hello!**

**Here's chapter 19! Hope the wait wasn't too long!**

**Thanks for the lovely reviews! :D**

**Chapter 19: Convincing Tweaks.**

Tweaks didn't let go of Ember until they had gone back to the sleeping quarters for the newcomers, where Tweaks finally let go of Ember.

"I've got to get back." Ember stated, trying to push her way past Tweaks.

"Can't let you do that." Tweaks replied.

"Why the hell not?" Ember demanded.

"Because there's a curfew." Tweaks replied. "And it's starting in 2 minutes, so stay here, alright; anyone caught outside of curfew will be punished."

"I don't care." Ember replied, trying to shove her way past Tweaks again.

Tweaks however just shoved Ember back without any effort at all, which wasn't really weird seeing that Tweaks was a lot broader, in terms of muscles, than Ember was.

"Ruby, I'm sorry about this, I know that you care about the Cyb... I mean Caleb, but I can't let you wander about." Tweaks said as she stepped out of the sleeping quarters. "See you tomorrow."

Ember rushed for the door as Tweaks pulled it closed behind her but before she could pull it open, Tweaks had locked it.

"Let me out!" Ember yelled, slamming her hand against the door. "Tweaks, please! Open the door!"

"I will." Tweaks replied. "Tomorrow morning."

"Tweaks, don't do this!" Ember yelled. "Open the door!"

When she didn't get a reply, she pressed her ear against the door only to hear footsteps walking away.

Ember stepped back and decided to put what she'd seen in movies to the test. She kicked out as hard as she could at the door handle, but the end result of it was that a jolt of pain shot through her leg.

"Bugger." Ember swore, kneeling down and rubbing her ankle. "Stupid... the door opens inwards, not outwards... bloody door..."

Ember got to her feet and in a fit of anger; she kicked the door again, only resulting in her stubbing her toes.

"Damned door..." Ember muttered, glaring at the door as if it was a living person. "Where's a bloody battering ram where you need it?"

She slammed her hand on the door before turning to look at the rest of her 'prison'. On either side of the room were 10 mattresses with a path going through the middle of them. At the far end was a table that looked like it had been a desk once and a wooden chair, but other than that, there was nothing in the room, not even a toilet.

"Damn you Tweaks..." Ember muttered as she walked over to a mattress close to the door and sat down on it.

Ember wrapped her arms around her legs and rested her chin on her knees as she thought. She didn't know what to do at all. She did know that she'd have to get Caleb out of the catacombs and away from the church before the Wolves murdered him.

"Come on Ember, think!" Ember hissed at herself as she got to her feet.

She decided to inspect every corner of the room. After an hour of looking around the room and checking every single inch of it, she found nothing that would help her escape. In the end, Ember gave up and dropped down on one of the mattresses. She lay down on her back and stared up at the ceiling. It was then that she saw that in the middle of the ceiling there was a metal grating, and there was no doubt in Ember's mind that it led to a ventilation shaft. She also saw that it was quite big, or at least big enough for Ember to squeeze through. She started to grin when she realized that this meant that the ventilation shaft was her ticket to freedom. Seeing as Ember knew that there weren't any security camera's in the room that she could see, she started dragging the table to the centre of the room so it was sitting right at underneath the vent. After the table was in position, she stood up on the bed, she reached up to try and reach the cover, but as fate would have it, her fingers misses the vent cover by a few inches.

"Damn you, genetics..." Ember muttered to herself as she put her hands on her hips.

After looking around for a moment for a way to gain the extra height, Ember hopped of the table and grabbed the chair before carrying it over to the table. She dropped it on the top of it before climbing up on the table again. The chair gave Ember the height she needed and after digging through her pockets of her vest for a few moments, she found a screwdriver and started to undo the screws.

A few minutes later, the vent cover came off and she tossed it down onto one of the mattresses. She straightened up properly as the extra height she'd gained had forced her to stand with her knees bent the whole time. It was then that Ember noticed that her structure she'd made was actually really wobbly and as soon as she started to pull herself up into the vent shaft, the chair toppled over.

"This is the last time I'm doing something like this." Ember remarked, shaking her arms out a little.

Despite the fact that her arms were a little sore as she didn't have that much upper body strength, she couldn't help but grin when she saw that the space was big enough for her to crawl in. The other problem was that she didn't know where she was supposed to be going, in the end however, Ember decided to go right and see where it lead her.

Despite the fact that Ember didn't know where she was going, she was sure of the fact that she was passing over the crew quarters as she could see through the vent covers that people were sleeping on mattress in the 'army' uniforms. Ember ignored them and made sure that she wasn't making any loud noises while moving through the vents but she stopped when she got to a quarter from which she could hear Orion's voice drifting up. She stopped when she realized that Orion was talking about and looked down through the vent opening. She could just see Orion; he was pacing and looking incredibly frustrated.

"I'm telling you, Draco, Quinn and his daughter gotta go." Orion was saying as he cracked his knuckles. "Bringing in new people each time, we barely got enough supplies to sustain our own people."

"How were you gonna do that?" a male voice, which belonged to Draco asked. "They got too much support."

"Then we're gonna kill 'em." Orion said. "After the Cyber's been executed, we're gonna take down Quinn and his daughter. It's because of them we had that Cyber and the girl showed up here. Because of that buggered signal they insist on maintaining."

"It's not going to work." Draco remarked. "They'll find out that we're the ones that'll have killed them. They'll kill us too!"

"Not if we manipulate someone into doing the deed for us." Orion stated, his voice getting a dark tone. "All we have to do is find someone simple enough to do the deed, someone who thinks they'd be doing the right thing, someone they can't trace back to us."

"Got anyone in mind?" Draco asked.

"I do as a matter of fact." Orion replied. "The boy, Zip."

"The autistic boy?" Draco asked

"Yes, him." Orion replied. "He's very eager to please people, I already confined him that killing Quinn and his daughter would please the whole community greatly."

"You son of a bitch..." Ember whispered under her breath.

She was tempted to listen in to the rest of the conversation, but she decided that she had to move on and find Tweaks to tell her about what Orion was planning for her and her father. She knew that the chance that the resistance fighter believing her was small, but she had to try anyway, Ember hoped that with a little luck, it would push Tweaks into helping her get Caleb out of the faction.

After a while, Ember got to an exit that looked like sat over a storage room, she pried the cover of it off and put it to one side before lowering herself down until she was hanging from her hands. After a few seconds of listening, she dropped down and landed in a crouch. She stayed in that position for a few moments to make sure that no-one had heard her and when she was sure, she stood up and moved over to the door.

Through the small window in it, she could see a guard moving passed and she dropped back down into a crouch before she moved over to the wall beside the door. She held her breath as she listened to the footsteps walking passed. When she was sure that they had passed, Ember stood up and reached for the doorknob. She slowly turned it to make sure that she barely made any noise before pulling the door open at a crack. She peeked out into the corridor and saw the guard moving around the corner. Ember quickly left the storage room and rushed off into the opposite direction. She knew that there was a curfew and that it was strict, but she hadn't expected patrols to actually walk around. For a moment she felt like she was a spy or something before reality set in and she realized how, potentially, dangerous the situation was, not to mention that she had to focus on finding a way to get Caleb out of the catacombs as soon as she could before he was going to be killed.

As Ember rounded a corner, she gasped when she felt something grabbing hold of her shoulder. The person pulled her back and shoved her back against the wall, making Ember gasp before realizing that she was looking at Tweaks.

"What are you doing here, Ruby?" Tweaks asked. "I warned you about the curfew."

Ember hid a cringe when she saw that Tweaks was beyond pissed off.

"Tweaks, listen to me, please." Ember said quickly. "You're in danger."

"What?" Tweaks asked in disbelief.

"It's Orion." Ember said. "He's planning to kill you and your father."

"What?" Tweaks repeated.

"Please, you have to believe me." Ember said. "He's convinced a boy, Zip, to kill you after Caleb's been executed."

"Orion would never do something like that." Tweaks shook her head. "He's been my father's body guard for years..."

"Please, you've got to believe me." Ember pleaded. "You and your father are going to die if you don't! I swear, I'm not lying to you about this, I heard it when I moved through the vents!"

Tweaks let go of Ember and stepped back, but Ember could see that Tweaks wasn't sure whether she believed her.

"How do I know this isn't just some kind of trick?" Tweaks asked. "Clearly you're willing to do anything to escape."

"Go find the boy, Zip, and ask him." Ember replied. "Orion said he's eager to please people, you can use that to your advantage."

"Alright." Tweaks said. "I'll go find him."

"Good." Ember sighed in relief.

"After I've taken you to a cell." Tweaks stated.

"What?" Ember demanded as Tweaks grabbed hold of her arm. "No, you don't have to do this. Please!"

"Looks like I do." Tweaks replied.

Ember tried to break free of Tweaks' grip, but the resistance fighter was just too strong for her. In the end, Ember gave up as Tweaks lead her down to the cell blocks. After a nod to the two guards at the door, Tweaks opened the door before shoving Ember through. As Ember started to turn to face Tweaks to convince her not to do this, she felt Tweaks grabbing her gun out of its holster.

"Give that back." Ember said.

"No weapons in the cell." Tweaks replied, shoving the gun into her pocket.

Ember glared at Tweaks as she shoved her over to a cell which she unlocked. After shoving Ember into the cell, Tweaks locked the door again and Ember grabbed hold of the bars.

"Tweaks, listen to me, you're making a mistake!" Ember said.

"Maybe, but I can't risk you going on walk about again." Tweaks replied as she walked over to the door that led out of the cellblock. "I'll be back when I've found out more."

Ember watched as the door closed behind Tweaks and she kicked at the bars of the cell door. She started to look around and it was then that she realized that she was in the same cell as Caleb. He was lying on the bench of the cell, fast asleep. By the looks of things he was sleeping peacefully for the time being.

Ember smiled slightly at how peaceful Caleb looked as she walked over to the bench and kneeled down beside it. She put her hand on Caleb's forehead, gently stroking it with her thumb. She didn't know whether Caleb knew that he wasn't alone, but when Caleb leaned against her touch, she had a feeling he knew.

"We should never have come here." Ember whispered. "I'm so sorry about all of this..."

Ember sighed as Caleb settled back into sleep before she removed her hand. She lay down on the hard cell floor and used one of her arms as a pillow as she tried to get some sleep.

Sleep decided that it didn't want to come to her that night and Ember got back to her feet to look for a way of escaping the cell as a backup plan should the original, yet to be designed, plan failed. It took some time and various tools, but in the end Ember was able to open the lock by the turn of a simple screwdriver. She grinned slightly as she locked the cell again, not wanting anyone to find out that she'd succeeded in managing to open the locks.

"Ruby?" Ember heard behind her.

Ember turned around at the voice and found that Caleb was sitting up on the bench, looking at her with wide, frightened eyes. Ember wasted no time in rushing over to him and grabbing him into a hug. As soon as she hugged him, Caleb grabbed onto her in a vice like grip that Ember was sure of was going to break her ribs, it didn't feel like he was about to let go any time soon.

"It's okay, I'm here." Ember whispered.

"I don't want to be here." Caleb said quietly, sounding beyond terrified. "I want to go home."

"I know me too." Ember replied hugging Caleb tightly. "We'll get out of here, I swear it."

"I heard the guards talking." Caleb whispered, sounding like he was going to cry at any moment. "They said they were going to kill me at noon. I don't want to die, Ruby! I don't even know what I did wrong!"

"Caleb, listen to me." Ember said, pulling away and putting her hands on either side of his face, brushing the tears away. "You are not going to die. Alright? I am going to stop that from happening, no matter what. I swear to God or whoever's up there, you are not going to die, not today, not here."

Caleb nodded silently, still looking terrified. Ember sighed before pulling Caleb back into the hug again, rubbing his back in comfort as she went.

"You're going to be fine." Ember whispered soothingly. "I swear you will be."

Even if it is going to cost me my life, Ember thought. Of course she wouldn't voice that thought to Caleb, but that didn't mean that she couldn't think it. She wanted to do nothing more than to take Caleb and escape, but she didn't want to risk the planned execution to be moved forward, which was certainly going to happen if they tried to escape now.

Both Ember and Caleb looked up when they heard the door opening and found that it was Tweaks, who was looking thoughtful as she walked over to their cell. Ember got to her feet as Caleb quickly wiped the tears from his face.

"You were right." Tweaks said.

"Like I said." Ember replied.

"Right about what?" Caleb asked, joining Ember at the cell door.

"She found out that someone is going to assassinate my father and I." Tweaks replied as she unlocked the cell door.

"Told you so." Ember remarked again. "So what now?"

"I need help stopping them." Tweaks stated.

"Give me one reason to help you." Ember replied. "Your father gave the order to kill Caleb, give me one good reason to fight your battles for you."

"If you do, my father will give you a reward for saving his life." Tweaks replied. "You can use that to get out of here. Alive."

Ember stared at Tweaks for a moment as she thought it over. It would be a sure way to get out of the Wolf Faction, which was what Ember wanted.

"Ruby, we should help them." Caleb remarked.

Ember sighed deeply as she turned to face Caleb to find that he was actually looking serious about it.

"Are you sure you want me to do this?" Ember asked.

"If it's a chance to get us out of here." Caleb replied, shrugging slightly.

Ember smiled slightly when she saw that the scared boy was making place for the confident Resistance Leader that Ember knew.

"Are you absolutely sure?" Ember asked again.

"Yes." Caleb said confidently.

"Alright." Ember nodded before turning to Tweaks. "Count me in."

"Thank you." Tweaks said gratefully. "I won't forget this."

"Just make sure that we can leave after this is over and we'll call it even." Ember replied.

"Ruby, I need you to come with me to talk to my father." Tweaks said. "We need to tell him what's going on."

Ember glanced back at Caleb, the thought of leaving him alone again didn't sit well with her at all. She could see that it didn't sit well with Caleb either as she could see the fear in his eyes at the thought of being alone again.

"You need to go." Caleb said.

"Are you sure?" Ember asked, raising an eyebrow.

"You need to do this." Caleb replied. "It's the only way we can be sure we can leave."

Ember knew that this was meant to sound as confident, but she noticed the slight tremor of fear in Caleb's voice.

"I won't be long." Ember said as she hugged Caleb again.

"I'll be fine." Caleb replied the same tremor in his voice again.

Ember gave him a comforting squeeze before letting go of him to look at him. she suppressed a sigh when she saw that he wouldn't be fine and even thought she didn't like it one bit, she had no choice but to leave the cellblock with Tweaks.

**And that's it for chapter 19! Hope you all enjoyed it!**

**Maybe you've noticed that the rating's gone up, I know that there wasn't anything in this chapter that required it to go up, but I've done it in preparation for chapter 20, which I will post on Sunday. Seeing as I can be such numpty from time to time, I will probably forget when I post chapter 20 :P**

**X Abby**


	20. Chapter 20

**Hiya!**

**As promised, here's chapter 20!:D**

**Without trying to give away what will happen, I have to warn you that there will be blood in the chapter. Thought I'd give you guys a fair warning in case someone's squeamish when it comes to blood.**

**Hope you'll enjoy it:)**

**Chapter 20: Fighting For Survival: Troy Style.**

On the way to the War Room, Tweaks handed Ember her weapon back and as soon as they stepped into the War Room, they found Quinn was leaning over a map with Orion. She glanced over at Tweaks when she felt the older girl tensing up beside her and Ember shook her head slightly at Tweaks warning her not to let on that they knew of Orion's plan. Tweaks nodded back and the two of them went over to the map table to join the leader and the traitor. Ember knew exactly how Tweaks felt; she wanted nothing more than to just beat the crap out of Orion for his planned betrayal, not to mention that he was planning do to all of this in the aftermath of Caleb's planned death. Instead Ember fought to keep her expression neutral, which was very hard to do.

"Dad?" Tweaks asked as the two girls reached the table.

"Ah, just the girls I was looking for." Quinn said. "Settling in well, Ruby?"

Ember wanted to shout at Quinn about Orion's plan, but instead she forced herself to say what she and Tweaks had agreed on.

"No, I'm not settling in." Ember replied. "Please, you have to believe me, you're making a mistake."

"You'll see different in time." Quinn replied as Orion crossed his arms over his chest.

"Yeah, everything will be better once that Cyber's dead." Orion agreed.

"No, it won't." Ember replied. "You're going to murder an innocent man, the one that saved the whole of humanity from the Roboidz, what kind of thanks is that?"

"Dad, can Ruby and I talk to you for a moment?" Tweaks asked.

"Can't it wait, honey?" Quinn asked. "We just got word more survivors are on their way."

"No, it can't, dad." Tweaks insisted, giving her father a knowing look.

Ember watched as Quinn sighed before straightening up while patting Orion on the shoulder.

"Take over." Quinn stated before motioning for the two girls to follow him.

Quinn led them both into a separate room that looked like it was Quinn's office. It didn't look like much of an office in the terms of Quinn having made it his own. Tweaks closed the door behind her as Quinn went to lean on the table that served as his desk and looked at the two girls.

"What's going on?" Quinn asked.

"Dad, Orion is planning to kill you." Tweaks said. "He told the boy Zip to do it."

"I thought as much." Quinn sighed, rubbing his stubble.

"That's it?" Ember asked. "That's all you're going to say? 'I thought as much', what kind of an answer is that? How can you be so calm about this?"

"I always knew this day was going to come." Quinn replied calmly.

"You did?" Tweaks asked. "Why didn't you tell me, dad?"

"Because you would've killed him, honey." Quinn stated.

"Dad, this is insane." Tweaks said. "We've got to do something about this."

"How did you find out about this?" Quinn asked.

"I overheard Orion talking to someone called Draco." Ember replied. "They were talking about killing you and Tweaks."

"Both of us?" Quinn asked.

"Yeah." Ember nodded. "I think Orion's afraid that if he doesn't kill both of you, Tweaks will want to get revenge or something."

"I always suspected something like this was going to happen." Quinn sighed. "Never thought he would have my daughter killed too..."

"Alright, so what are we going to do about this?" Tweaks asked. "We've got to stop him, dad."

"I need time to think about this." Quinn replied. "Tweaks, I want you to show Ruby around the catacombs."

"But..." Tweaks started.

"No buts, honey." Quinn replied. "Now go."

Ember stared as Tweaks sighed before moving over to the door, looking defeated as she clearly went to do what her father had ordered her.

"I can't believe you." Ember stated.

"Excuse me?" Quinn asked, raising an eyebrow.

"The man closest to you is plotting to have you and your daughter killed and all you're saying about it is, I have to think about this?" Ember asked. "What's there to think about? Orion and his followers have to be locked up! Or do you want to die?"

"Girl, when you get to be my age..." Quinn started.

"Screw that!" Ember exclaimed. "I don't care what age you are! You can't just roll over and die when someone tells you too. What about Tweaks? Huh? She's what? 22, 23 years old? You can't expect her to just take over without any sort of preparation when you die. You're being completely unfair to her!"

"Ruby, this is a matter that doesn't concern you." Quinn said sternly.

"I think you'll find that it does concern me." Ember replied. "Seeing as Orion is going to do all of it after Caleb's planned death. But you know what, screw you. If you want to roll over and die, then be my bloody guest, I don't give a damn."

"Leave." Quinn repeated.

Ember glared at Quinn one last time and she was tempted to flip him off, but instead she turned on her heel and stalked over to the door. She pulled it open only to find that Orion was standing right in front of it, making her gasp a little. She looked up at Orion, who was at least a foot taller than she was, he had his arms crossed over his chest and it really showed off his arm muscles. Ember fought the urge to gulp at seeing them, she was really hoping that she wouldn't have to fight Orion when it came down to it, there was no doubt in her mind that she was going to lose if that happened.

"Problems, Boss?" Orion asked, glancing down at Ember for a moment before looking up at his boss.

"No, no problems." Quinn shook his head. "Girls, I'll see you later."

Tweaks didn't say anything as she pushed past Orion; Ember gave the man a glare before pushing past him to follow Tweaks. Tweaks left the war room and Ember silently followed her until Tweaks finally stopped in front of a door which she shoved open. As Ember stepped inside, she could tell that it was Tweaks' and Quinn's quarters as it was scattered with stuff that only a leader would have.

"Tweaks..." Ember started.

"Don't talk to me right now." Tweaks replied.

Ember sighed as she watched Tweaks stepping through a door that clearly lead into her bedroom. Ember looked around the quarters for a moment before dropping down onto a couch that was crafted out of scrap wood and a few cushions.

Ember knew that time was running out and that she had to act fast when it came to designing a plan to safe Caleb's life. The only thing she could come up with was kill Orion herself before he could have a chance to kill Tweaks and Quinn. That would take care of the danger to their lives, but then there was the problem of getting Caleb to safety. She didn't know how she was going to pull that off though... the only thing that she could think of was to use the confusion of Orion's attack on Tweaks and Quinn as a diversion and use it to make sure that Caleb got to safety. Although it was a plan that wasn't going to work at all, seeing as Ember had promised Tweaks that she was going to help protect her and her father.

"Damnit..." Ember whispered to herself.

She glanced up when Tweaks came out of the bedroom again to find that her eyes looked bloodshot.

"You okay?" Ember asked.

"I can't believe my father would just say stuff like that." Tweaks said.

"I know." Ember nodded. "Look, we'll figure something out. No-one is going to die today. Well, having said that... the only one that is probably going to die today is that bastard Orion, but who gives a damn about him anyway?"

Ember smiled slightly when Tweaks did, she hadn't thought that what she said was funny. She meant it, if it was down to her, she was going to kill Orion, but clearly Tweaks had considered her words to be slightly comical. Ember didn't mind, if it helped to break Tweaks' nerves, it was fine with her.

"We need a plan." Tweaks said, turning serious again.

"One that covers Orion's defeat, the safety of you and your father and getting Caleb to safety." Ember agreed. Before sighing, "So... d'you got any ideas how to do this?"

"No, I don't." Tweaks shook her head.

"Me neither..." Ember sighed before getting to her feet. "I do know that sitting around moping isn't going to help us. We're going to need a map, a map of the Catacombs so we can plan a rout for Caleb to escape through. If we can get that sorted, we can figure out where to take Orion down and where you need to escort your father too."

"Give me 5 minutes." Tweaks nodded.

Tweaks left the quarters and 5 minutes later, she was back with a map of the Catacombs. They put words to action and started plotting everything that had to be plotted, but in the end, it turned out to be a flimsy plan. Still it was a plan and that meant that neither of them would be completely clueless about what they had to do. during their plotting Ember found what the method of execution was going to be, an arrow to the heart, in her eyes it was barbaric and far from a humane way to execute someone, but according to Tweaks it was chosen as a way to execute Cybers so they could feel the pain that parents feel after their children had been taken away.

The actual plan was to stop the execution and reveal Orion's intention, after that it was just a case of hoping for the best while Ember got Caleb to safety and Tweaks did the same with her father.

With the house of the planned execution drawing closer and closer, Ember started to get anxious. Tweaks had handed her a device that she could use to bypass the signal disruptor in Caleb's arm. It turned out that it was just a simple case of holding the device to Caleb's arm, activate it and if all went well; Caleb's arm would work again. Both Ember and Tweaks hoped that this would be enough for Caleb to escape. Before they left the quarters to go to the area where the execution was going to be held, Ember managed to steal a dagger from Quinn's desk while Tweaks wasn't looking, Ember had done this with the reasoning that if the device failed, she needed some sort of back-up to free Caleb. She had hidden the dagger behind her gun in the holster before she followed Tweaks of out the quarters.

As the two of them got to the execution room, they found that it was already buzzing with excitement about the impending execution. This was something that Ember couldn't understand, how could people enjoy watching someone die? Ember shook her thoughts off as she and Tweaks started to make their way to the front of the crowd, so they were standing right in front of the stage.

"Remember, when I've grabbed Zip, run up onto the stage." Tweaks whispered to Ember.

"Don't worry, I'll be ready." Ember replied, closing her hand around the device in her pocket.

Ember could feel her stomach starting to ache with nervousness, so much so that she curled an arm around it. Ember looked up when Tweaks nudged her and gestured to the side of the stage, Orion was standing there and she couldn't help but feel the urge to jump the basted there and then and put a bullet through his brains. Instead of putting her thoughts to actions, Ember forced herself to calm down, but there wasn't enough time for that as the crowd fell completely silent. Ember turned around to find that gauds were creating a path through the crowd that lead straight up to the steps at the front of the stage.

"What's going on?" Ember whispered.

She didn't understand why the crowd had fallen silent. In the executions that she'd seen on film, the crowd always started an uproar.

"It's starting." Tweaks whispered back. "Get ready."

Ember fell silent when she saw that Caleb was being lead through the crowd. She could see that his hands were tied behind me and he was looking around, terrified of everything around him, of all the people that had gathered.

"Tweaks..." Ember started.

"Stay calm, Ruby." Tweaks replied. "It's going to be alright, just stick to the plan."

Ember closed her eyes for a moment, not feeling very convinced at all. The two girls watched silently as Caleb was lead onto the stage and was kept in place by two guards. Ember watched as his eyes scanned the crowd for a familiar face and as soon as his eyes found hers, Ember gave him a reassuring smile, at least it was meant to be reassuring. Clearly it didn't work as he still looked terrified.

"Trust me." Ember mouthed at him.

She watched as Caleb nodded slightly, looking a little less scared.

"Tweaks, we've..." Ember started, looking at the resistance fighter beside her.

"Not yet." Tweaks interrupted.

Ember let out a frustrated sigh, not happy with the fact that she couldn't do her part yet. She wanted nothing more than to run onto the stage and stop it, but she couldn't. Quinn stepped up onto the stage and stood at the front to address the crowds.

"Zip has to be around somewhere." Ember whispered as Tweaks started to look around.

"Found him." Tweaks replied. "Get ready."

Ember nodded as Tweaks started moving over to where Zip had been stationed before looking back at the stage, not taking her eyes of Caleb's and trying to send out as many reassuring looks as she could in the hopes of calming Caleb down slightly. She didn't listen to Quinn's speech, which was something about how Cybers and the rest of Neuros' forces wouldn't be able to defeat humanity no matter what they did even though Neuros and her forces had been deactivated, permanently.

"Come on Tweaks..." Ember whispered, briefly taking her eyes of Caleb's so she could look around for a sign of the resistance fighter. "We're running out of time..."

Somewhere in the room, the drumming started, and that was the signal for the executioner to prepare of the execution. She looked around to find that the executioner, who even was wearing the black hood you saw in the movies, was putting the arrow on the bowstring.

"No, no, no, no, no..." Ember whispered. "Tweaks, where are you...?"

She looked around again and didn't see Tweaks, which made Ember decide to take matters into her own hands. She did the first thing that came to mind and that was pulling out her gun from its holster and raising it into the air. She fired it three times and winced at the recoil, which she hadn't been expecting. The shots did have the desired effect though, the people that crowded around started to panic, people were darting left and right, they started to scream and this created the confusion that Ember needed. While people were panicking, the two soldiers that had a hold of Caleb now grabbed hold of Quinn to lead him to safety. She jumped up on the stage and grabbed the device from her pocket as she rushed over to Caleb.

"Ruby..." Caleb started to say.

"Told you I was going to get you out of here." Ember interrupted.

She held the device to Caleb's arm and activated it, a green light on the device blinked on and she knew that it had worked when Caleb's eyes lit up with realization and the next thing she knew, the ropes that had tied his hands snapped.

"Ruby!" Tweaks yelled from where she was fighting with Zip over the gun he was holding.

Ember stared at the gun for a few moments and she wondered where it came from seeing as the remainder of the civilization was so primitive before realizing that Orion must've gone on a scavenger hunt in preparation for his plan to kill Tweaks and Quinn.

"Go!" Tweaks yelled, elbowing Zip in the face to get control of the gun. "Get out of here!"

"Come on." Ember said, grabbing Caleb's arm.

The two of them jumped down from the stage and Ember lead the way to the door that Tweaks had told her to use.

They entered the corridor beyond and they found that the battle between Orion's men and Quinn's men had started. The clashing of swords could be heard all around as well as the screams of people getting hurt and people who weren't part of the armies starting to panic. The entire corridor was filled with men or women fighting. And for a moment, Ember felt like they were taking part in the movie Troy, more specifically the moment that the Greeks invaded the city of Troy.

"It's begun..." Ember whispered.

"Ruby, what do we do?" Caleb asked. "I don't know what we can do."

"We need to get out of here." Ember replied. "Follow..."

She let the sentence trail when she saw there was an archer standing some distance away from them, this archer was taking aim with his bow and the arrow was pointing straight at Caleb. Ember didn't think as she grabbed hold of Caleb and pulled him down to the ground, out of the line of sight. Ember felt the arrow passing over her head and she twisted around to face the archer, this time pulling out her gun as she did. She didn't have an intention of using it as she aimed the gun at the archer; it was merely meant as a scare tactic. She was glad that it worked though, the archer ducked out of the way into a side corridor.

"Ruby, we need to get out of here." Caleb said.

"I know." Ember replied as she climbed to her feet.

She pulled Caleb to his feet and pulled him along back to the execution room. When they got there, they found that a fight was going on between Orion and Quinn. Ember looked around to see if there was any sign of Tweaks, and she saw that the resistance fighter was fighting two soldiers at once. Tweaks was fighting with 2 swords at once, fighting of the soldiers, it looked like an intricate dance, a deadly intricate dance. For a split second, Tweaks' eyes darted over at Ember before they focused on her opponents again.

"Help my father!" Tweaks yelled.

Ember looked back at the fight between Orion and Quinn and it was clear to see that Quinn was losing, badly. Caleb was looking around in wonder, clearly he didn't know what he was supposed to do, and Ember didn't blame him one bit.

"Stay back." Ember warned. "Don't get in the way, no matter what you do."

"But Ruby I can..." Caleb started.

"You have to promise." Ember interrupted. "You can't get in the way, no matter what happens, alright?"

She looked back at the fight that Quinn and Orion were locked in and saw that the two of them had their swords locked and Quinn was losing, badly. Knowing that time was short, Ember started running over to the fight, snatching a bloodstained sword from a fallen soldier up of the ground as she went. She didn't have any delusions that she was able to take on Orion on her own seeing that she didn't know how to handle a sword at all, but she had seen enough movies to know how not to handle one. In addition to that, she knew someone who was with a re-enactment group and she'd been told what the basic moves were when it came to swords fighting. With no experience to go on, Ember decided to just go with the flow and act on her instincts as well as she could.

As Ember had gathered some momentum because of her running, Ember used it to swing the blade of the sword up before slashing it down at Orion. It was almost like Orion had eyes in the back of his head as he turned around after pushing Quinn away before blocking the slash with the flat of his blade.

"This isn't your fight, girl." Orion said as he swung his blade around ready for a strike.

"I think you'll find that it just became my fight." Ember replied.

Without thinking about it, she thrust the sword forwards at Orion, but he sidestepped it and swung his sword around to Ember. Ember ducked and felt a rush of air as the blade passed over her head, missing her by an inch. As Ember straightened up again, she found that Orion was giving her a smug look. She glanced around for Quinn for a moment only to find that Tweaks was pulling her father away and to her surprise, she found that Caleb was helping them. For a moment, Ember was glad that Tweaks was able to get her father to safety, the last thing that she wanted Tweaks to go through was losing her father as she knew what kind of impact that was going to have on her, especially as she was close with her father. She also felt proud of Caleb for a split second, that despite the fact Quinn had ordered him to be executed; he was now helping Tweaks get him to safety.

"You'd better walk away." Orion taunted. "I can assure you that and the Cyber will die a painless death."

"I'll choose life any day of the week." Ember replied. "I'm with Quinn and Tweaks."

With that Ember slashed at Orion again, only for the two blades to lock at the cross guards as Orion blocked again. The man didn't even have to put pressure on the sword for her to know that he possessed a lot more strength in the arms department. That proved to be true as Orion pulled his sword free before ramming the pummel of it into her face. Ember stumbled back as she felt the blood in her mouth as one of her teeth had gone through her bottom lip. She didn't have time to dwell on that though as Orion laughed at her while swinging the sword around, ready to attack again.

"What are you doing here, girl?" Orion asked. "You can't win this and you know it. Side with me and I might even allow your precious Cyber to live."

Ember gritted her teeth against the pain in her face as anger started to flare again. As far as she was concerned, he had just made the biggest mistake in his life. After everything that had happened there in the Wolf Faction camp, she'd had enough of everything and the comment that Orion had just made, was the last straw.

"You pompous son of a bitch." Ember hissed.

It took all of her willpower not to do something rash as she knew it would only get her killed instantly because Orion was a skilled fighter with a sword and she wasn't. Orion was clearly aware of this fact as well as he didn't stop attacking Ember, forcing her to block each and every time. The attacks lasted maybe 30 seconds at the most, but at the end of them, Ember felt like her limbs were made out of lead. The sword she'd picked up was a lot heavier than she'd expected, not to mention that it was hard to swing it around the whole time so that she could block or parry the slashes and thrusts that Orion attacked her with. Ember screamed with pain when Orion managed to break through her flimsy defence. The thrust that had wounded her had been aimed at the centre of her belly, but as Ember had tried to side step it, the sword ended up slicing through her side.

"Ruby!" she could hear Caleb yelling as Ember fell to the ground.

Ember rolled out of the way Orion stabbed his sword down, clearly intent on finishing the job and as she did, she caught sight of Caleb, who was running towards them. He skidded to a halt out of reach from Orion's sword and Ember was glad that he listened to her.

Although as Ember was focused on making sure that Caleb listened to her, she made a mistake as she rolled out of the way from Orion's sword. She had let go of her own sword, leaving her defenceless. Ember pressed her hand against her right side as it started to hurt to almost unbearable levels. She could feel her own warm blood seeping through her fingers. Ember came to a halt against a wall, not having realized that she was scrambling away from Orion in the wrong direction.

Orion grinned as he raised his sword to deliver the killing blow and Ember felt a shiver of fear running down her spine. Fear of dying, fear of leaving Caleb on his own in the world of 2110.

But Orion never had the chance to strike.

Before he could stab the sword down at her, he gasped in a breath of air and Ember stared with wide eyes as the tip of a sword came out of Orion's chest. Orion looked down at the sword in surprise for a few moments as he let his sword clatter to the ground at Ember's side. The sword was pulled out and Orion fell to his knees before finally tumbling down to the ground as he blew out his last breath. She stared at the body in front of her for a moment, watching as the man's crimson blood started to spread out over the floor like an oil stain before looking up at Orion's killer. She felt like her eyes were going to pop out of their sockets as they widened, Orion's killer was Caleb. He was holding the sword in his human hand; crimson droplets of blood were dripping down from it.

The two of them stared at each other for a few moments before Caleb dropped the sword and kneeled down beside Ember.

"Are you alright?" Caleb asked, before glancing down at Ember's bloodstained hand. "Did he hurt you? Let me see."

"No, Caleb, I'm fine." Ember replied, pushing Caleb's hands away. "You killed him..."

"He was going to kill you too." Caleb replied.

"Ruby, Caleb." Tweaks' voice called.

The two of them looked around to find Tweaks running over to them.

"What happened?" Tweaks asked as she reached them.

"Look down." Ember replied.

Tweaks did indeed look down and saw that Orion's body was lying at her feet. She heaved a sigh of relief before looking at Caleb and Ruby.

"Thank god... I'm glad that's over." Tweaks said. "Come on; let's get you out of here."

Ember grimaced as Caleb pulled her to her feet before pulling her arm over his shoulders t help her walk as she was already struggling to stay on her feet because of the pain. Tweaks lead the way out of the execution room and down the corridors where the bodies of soldiers were littering the floors but whether they were with Quinn or Orion, Ember didn't know. All she knew at that moment was that she was in a hell of a lot of pain and she still couldn't get her head around the fact that Caleb killed someone to save her life.

With Tweaks leading the way, it didn't take that long for the three of them to get out of the Catacombs and get to the ground floor of the church. The three of them walked down the line of pews any when they got to the door, Tweaks turned to face them.

"This is it." Tweaks remarked. "I can't thank you enough for saving my father."

"It's okay." Ember replied.

Ember was surprised when Tweaks reached out and hugged Ember for a moment before reaching out and clapping Caleb on the shoulder.

"I owe you both." Tweaks stated.

"We'll keep that in mind." Ember nodded.

"Ruby, we need to go." Caleb said, pulling Ember's arm back over his shoulders.

"See ya, Tweaks." Ember said as Caleb started to lead her to the door of the church.

Ember glanced back at Tweaks when Caleb pulled the door open and mouth 'sorry' at her to which Tweaks nodded. She didn't blame Caleb for wanting to get out of the church, after all, he had been sentenced to death in the catacombs, if Ember was in his position, she wouldn't want to hang around there either.

The two of them stepped outside and Ember smiled a little when she felt the sunlight on her face. After all that time the catacombs of the church, she was glad to be back in the sun. The two of them went over to the spot where they'd hidden their backpacks, which Caleb ended up carrying, both of them as well as helping Ember walk to the jeep. Ember didn't know how he did it, but she did know that she was starting to feel lightheaded; she also knew that this was due to the blood loss and by the time that they reached the jeep, she was starting to feel sick. She gritted her teeth as she climbed into the passenger seat of the jeep while Caleb dumped their backpacks into the backseats after which he climbed into the driver's seat.

"You okay?" Caleb asked, glancing over at Ember. "You look a bit pale."

"Fine..." Ember nodded tiredly. "Just fine... get us out of here, will you?"

Caleb nodded and started the jeep. After Ember had put her seatbelt on, she pressed down on the wound in her side again grimacing at the pain that it caused, all the while fighting to stay awake.

**So that was it for Chapter 20. **

**Hope you guys enjoyed it!:D You know, despite the blood/gore.**

**I'm not sure when the next chapter will be up, but I'll do my best to have it up by Thursday afternoon. :)**

**X Abby**


	21. Chapter 21

**Hiya! **

**Really sorry about the delay in posting! I'll explain that in the note at the bottom why it was late!**

**For now, enjoy chapter 21! :)**

**Chapter 21: Aftermath**

It wasn't until they had long left Utrecht that Ember dared to let herself relax. She glanced down at her side to find that she was still bleeding. It had slowed down a lot, but it was still bleeding and that was going to pose a serious problem if it wasn't taken care of soon.

"We've got to stop." Ember said tiredly.

"Where?" Caleb replied.

"Anywhere." Ember stated. "Just stop..."

"Are you feeling alright?" Caleb asked, glancing over at her.

"Just stop the bloody car." Ember replied. "Please..."

Caleb glanced over at Ember for a few moments before stopping the car at the nearest house they came across. As soon as the jeep had stopped, Ember started climbing out of the car only to end up dropping onto her knees as her legs couldn't support her. Ember gasped in pain and closed her eyes, trying to focus on something else other than the pain.

"Ruby?" Caleb asked as he rushed around the jeep. "You alright?"

"I need a hand." Ember admitted.

Caleb grabbed hold of Ember's arm and Ember tried to keep her face neutral as he pulled her to her feet.

"Come on." Caleb said before leading Ember inside.

The house that the two of them stepped in wasn't all that much different from the previous ones they'd stayed in. Without saying anything, Caleb helped Ember upstairs and into the bathroom where Ember leaned down on the counter where the sink was.

"I'll be right back." Caleb said before rushing out of the bathroom.

Ember grimaced as she stepped over to the door and pushed it closed before locking it. The last thing she wanted was for Caleb to see the damage that had been done as Ember knew that it was going to be really bad. Eventhough the door wouldn't stop Caleb from coming in if he wanted too, she wanted to have some time alone to the damage.

She went over to the counter and leaned back on it as she pulled down the zipper of her vest down and slipped it off her shoulders. She then stated the task of pulling off the top part of her jumpsuit. Once it was off through, Ember grimaced at the amount of blood that had soaked into her white tank top, it almost seemed like all of her blood had soaked into it. as she looked down at the wound, she tried not to panic when she saw how deep it was, it looked like it was so deep that it had done damage to any of the major organs down there, but she knew that that wasn't the case as none of the organs were spilling out of the gash. She did know that it was deep enough that it needed stitches, but she didn't know how to do that and she was sure of the fact that Caleb didn't know about that either.

She sighed deeply as she turned to face the mirror and found that her face was covered in dirt. That wasn't that strange as Ember could barely remember when the last time was she had a proper wash. As she wiped some of the dirt away from her face, she was shocked to find that she was actually looking as pale as a ghost, but before the shock settled in, her brain reasoned that it was because of the bloodless that she was looking so pale.

Ember was pulled out of her musings as she heard the doorknob rattling, telling her that Caleb was back and eager to get in to help her.

"Ruby?" Caleb asked. "Open the door."

"Just a minute." Ember replied.

"Ruby, what's wrong?" Caleb asked, trying to open the door again. "Unlock the door."

"I'm fine Caleb." Ember repined. "Can you just get the med kit from my backpack?"

"Ruby..." Caleb started.

"Please?" Ember asked.

She stood still as she listened to Caleb sighing before she heard him walking away. Ember let out a breath in relief and started pulling of her tank top before pressing the fabric against her side. Ember had to bite her lip to stop herself from crying out in pain as she leaned down on the counter, trying to keep her breathing as normal as she could as well as trying not to be sick because of the pain.

"Ruby?" Caleb called from the other side of the door. "Ruby, open the door."

Ember took a deep breath before moving over to the door and slowly starting to unlock it. before the door unlocked completely she leaned back against it so Caleb wouldn't come bursting in and made sure that her right side was out of sight.

"What are you doing?" Caleb asked, trying to push the door open, but being stopped by Ember. "Ruby, let me in."

"I can't." Ember replied trying to come up with a quick excuse. "I'm... naked."

At first Ember didn't know why she said that, but then she knew it was the right thing to say as Caleb started to flush slightly and looked away from the door. He held out the med kit through the crack in the door.

"Right." Caleb said awkwardly. "Uh... I'll let you..."

"Yeah, thanks." Ember said, taking the first aid kit from Caleb before closing the door as soon as he had pulled his arm back.

Ember leaned back against the door after locking it behind her and she heaved sigh as she went over to the counter, leaning on it after putting the medkit on it.

"Are... are you sure you don't need help?" Caleb called.

"Yeah, I'm sure." Ember replied. "Just uh... just see if you uh... just go see if the area is safe, alright?"

"Alright, just... just call if you need me, alright?" Caleb replied, sounding slightly rejected.

"Sure." Ember replied.

Ember listened to Caleb walking away before she carefully started to peel the fabric of her tank top away. After pulling the tank top off, she tried her best not to start throwing up the second that she could properly see what damage the sword had caused.

"Bloody hell." Ember whispered, grimacing in pain.

She bunched up her tank top and put it over the wound before opening the med kit. After digging around for a moment into it, she found that there was nothing useful in the kit that would help close the wound, so instead she grabbed a gauze pad and a few rolls of bandages.

A few minutes later, Ember had used up three gauze pads and 4 rolls of bandages to cover the whole cut and keep the gauze pads in place. Ember bit her lip in pain when she loosely tied the sleeves of her jumpsuit and put on her vest so the bandages were covered until she was able to get her hands on clean clothes. After finishing zipping up the vest, Ember dug through her pockets until she found a lighter and a bottle of lighter fluid.

After emptying the waste basket, Ember dropped her tank top into it and sprayed some lighter fluid onto it. after opening the window so the smoke could leave the room, she lit the paper packet of one of the gauze pads and once it was burning properly, she dropped it into the basket. She sighed as she stood over the basket and watched her tank top burn. The reason that Ember did this was that she didn't want Caleb to see that damage that had been done to her, or at least the amount of blood she'd lost. Once the tank top had burnt enough not to leave any traces of the blood loss, she put out the fire and bunched up tthe tank top to hide in one of the pockets of her vest to dispose of later.

Ember cleared away the rubbish and closed the med kit before leaving the room. when she closed the door and turned to go down the staris, she jumped when she found that Caleb was standing infront of her, looking like he was about to knock.

"You okay?" Caleb asked.

"Yeah, I'm fine." Ember replied. "I just want to change though."

Ember tried not to grimace as she leaned down and picked up her backpack, which she carried into one of the bedrooms.

"Are you sure you're okay?" Caleb asked. "You're looking a little pale..."

"Yeah, I'm fine." Ember replied. "I'm just tired... haven't had much sleep and all."

"Well, maybe you should..." Caleb started.

"I'll sleep when I've changed." Ember interrupted as she dropped her backpack down onto the bed in the room.

Ember straightened up and turned to face Caleb to find him leaning against the frame of the door.

"Are you okay, Caleb?" Ember asked.

"Yeah, fine." Caleb nodded. "I'll let you get changed."

"No, wait." Ember said as Caleb started to leave. "What's the matter?"

"It's nothing." Caleb shook his head. "It can wait."

"No, wait." Ember said, grabbing hold of Caleb's arm. "Wait, Caleb, what's wrong? There's something bothering you, I can see it. What is it?"

"Ruby, you're tired, you're seeing things." Caleb replied.

"No I'm not. I know what I'm seeing and..." Ember started to argue.

"Ruby, please." Caleb interrupted. "Just get changed and get some sleep."

"But I..." Ember started arguing.

"Please, just do what I say, alright?" Caleb asked. "Just this once."

Ember stared at Caleb for a moment, knowing that it was rare for Caleb to actually 'order' her to do something. She couldn't decipher the look that Caleb was giving her though and it bothered her. Over the time that she's spent with Caleb, she'd gotten pretty good at reading him especially when it came to his emotions and the one that he was clearly feeling right now was one that she couldn't identify, hell she hadn't even see it before in him.

"Okay." Ember nodded. "Okay, just... can you stay with me while I sleep?"

"I'm not sure if that's..." Caleb started.

"Please?" Ember interrupted. "I don't want to be alone when I sleep."

"Alright." Caleb sighed. "Alright, I'll stay with you. Go get changed, alright?"

Ember nodded before Caleb left the room. Once Caleb had closed the door behind him, Ember sighed and crossed her arms over her chest. The whole 'being scared' act that she'd put up just now wasn't because she was scared of being alone; it was actually to see whether there was something wrong with Caleb. And now she'd seen his reactions, she was sure of it. Normally when Ember was scared, Caleb immediately started acting like a big brother and started to comfort her, but this time, nothing happened.

"damnit..." Ember sighed.

She turned to her backpack and pulled out a pair of jeans and a tank top from it. After changing, Ember packed her jumpsuit into her backpack again and picked it up before slinging it over her left shoulder. Ember went downstairs and dropped her backpack in the living room where Caleb had created a space in the middle of it and had put down a two person mattress along with the pillows and blanket.

"Come on, get some sleep." Caleb said from where he was sitting on the mattress.

Ember nodded and kicked of her boots before lying down beside Caleb, all the while trying not to show that she was in pain. She had taken painkillers, but they just weren't strong enough to deal with the amount of pain that she was feeling at that moment.

"You okay?" Caleb asked.

"I'm fine." Ember nodded. "Really..."

"Alright." Caleb nodded.

Ember smiled before turning onto her left side and trying to ignore the pain as she turned before closing her eyes. She didn't open her eyes when she felt Caleb putting his arm over her waist, thankfully above the wound before hugging her close to him.

Despite the pain, Ember had somehow managed to fall asleep and after a few hours of sleep, she woke up to find that somehow she'd ended up lying half on top Caleb's chest, she could feel Caleb's arm around her waist though, so she knew that he hadn't minded at all when that happened.

Ember slowly started to sit up and had to bite her lip to stop herself from making any sounds of pain as she felt a stab of it shooting through her side. In the end, Ember let out a slight gasp and she felt like kicking herself when she felt Caleb's hand on her shoulder, telling her that he'd noticed.

"You okay?" Caleb asked.

"Yeah, fine." Ember lied. "The painkillers wore off, that's all."

"Are you sure?" Caleb asked.

"Yeah, I'm sure." Ember lied.

"How bad was it?" Caleb asked. "The wound I mean."

"It was nothing more than a small cut." Ember lied. "It's going to be fine in a week or so."

"Are you sure?" Caleb asked, giving her a sceptical look.

"Pretty sure, yeah." Ember nodded as she climbed to her feet.

She bit her lip as she walked over to her backpack and pulled out the bottle of painkillers she'd put in the front pocket of it. After taking two of them, Ember pulled out a clean tank top from it which she put on before sitting down at the dining table in the room.

"it looks bad." Caleb remarked. "are you sure..."

"it looks worse than it is." Ember interrupted gently. "the bandages are just there to keep the gauze pads in place. Don't worry about it, okay?"

Caleb still looked sceptical, but it seemed like he was believing her for the moment. Ember turned to look out of the window and saw that it was dark outside, a glance at her watch todl her that it was midnight.

"Witching hour." Ember said to herself before sighing.

"What hour?" Caleb asked.

"Oh, it's this thing from European folklore." Ember shrugged. "It's the hour that stuff as ghosts and such are said to appear."

"Ghosts?" Caleb repeated. "Really? They exist?"

"Well, that depends on personal opinion." Ember shrugged. "But I believe that there's more between Heaven and Earth than what humans can perceive. Including ghosts."

"Yeah, but if they do exist, they can't hurt people, can they?" Caleb asked.

Ember looked up to find that Caleb was looking slightly nervous.

"No, they can't harm humans." Ember smiled. "You don't have to worry about that at all."

Ember smiled as Caleb looked a little more relieved. She could understand why he'd been worried through, it was a common thing for children to be worried about that sort of thing and seeing as Caleb kind of had the mentality of a child sometimes, it all made sense to her.

"Are you sure you're okay?" Caleb asked as Ember grabbed her laptop. "You still look pale and tired."

"Yeah, I'm fine." Ember lied as she gave Caleb another smile while grabbing her laptop from her backpack. "I'll get some more sleep in a while, I want to dot out our route to Frankfurt first."

"That can wait until morning." Caleb remarked.

"Maybe, but I just want to get it done." Ember replied.

Just as she was about to start typing after the laptop had booted up, she looked up when Caleb pushed the lid of it closed again making Ember pull her fingers away to avoid them being squashed.

"Hey..." Ember started to complain.

"Ruby, you need sleep." Caleb said firmly but kindly.

"But I can..." Ember started.

"Come on." Caleb said, pulling Ember to her feet before leading her back to the mattress. "Do all that stuff in the morning."

"I don't want to sleep, Caleb." Ember stated as she pulled her arm away from his hand. "Okay? I just don't want to sleep."

"Why not?" Caleb asked.

"Because..." Ember started before looking down at the ground. "Because I dream when I sleep... I don't want to dream..."

"Because of your nightmares." Caleb stated as the two of them sat down on the mattress.

"How did you..." Ember started.

"You were talking in your sleep." Caleb replied. "Do you want to talk about it?"

"No." Ember shook her head as she felt tears appearing in her eyes.

When Ember had been asleep, she had indeed been dreaming, although it was a nightmare. It was mostly about being too late to safe Caleb from being executed and on top of that, she dreamt about all the recruits that she'd met while trying to unite them on one community were being shaded while she was made to watch it happen.

"Come here." Caleb said, reaching out to Ember.

The first tear fell when Caleb started to pull Ember towards him and Ember wrapped her arms around his neck before starting to cry into his shoulder. In the end, Ember cried herself to sleep that night and again her dreams were plagued by nightmares.

**So that was it! **

**So, I promised I'd mention why it was late, well the thing is real life has gotten in the way the last two days, 2 massive problems have cropped up in my friend circle and because I had to deal with that, I didn't have time to put the chapter through a final edit and post it.**

**Because of that I'm not sure when I'll be able to post the next chapter, but I will do so as soon as I can! **

**Sorry!**

**X Abby**


	22. Chapter 22

**Hiya!**

**So here's chapter 22!**

**Enjoy!**

**Chapter 22: Bath Time**

The following morning, Ember woke up feeling like all her muscles had cramped up. She slowly opened her eyes to find that she was clinging onto Caleb as if her life depended on it. When Ember started to let go of Caleb's t-shirt, she felt her fingers aching because they'd been gripping Caleb's t-shirt so tightly.

"Are you awake?" Caleb asked quietly.

"Yeah..." Ember replied. "I'm awake... I'm sorry..."

"It's okay." Caleb replied. "You can't help the fact that you were having a nightmare."

Ember nodded silently as she looked at Caleb, now it was clearer than ever that he had been given a beating in the Wolf faction camp. The skin around his eye had been bruised badly and it looked like that his lip had been bleeding at one point as she could see a small scab on his bottom lip, near the corner of his mouth.

"I can't believe they did that to you..." Ember whispered,

"it's fine." Caleb replied." Odesn't even hurt anymore."

"are you sure?" Ember asked.

"yeah, I'm sure." Caleb nodded.

Ember stared at Caleb for a moment, wondering whether he was telling her the truth or not, but after a few moments she let it slide. She started to climb to her feet only to gasp when she felt pain shooting through her side, making her fall back to her knees.

"Bugger..." Ember swore as she pressed a hand over her side.

She glanced down when she felt her hand starting to get sticky and she sighed as she saw that blood was seeping through her tank top.

"You okay?" Caleb asked, putting a hand on her shoulder.

"Yeah, fine." Ember nodded, making sure to hide the fact that blood was seeping through her shirt.

She forced herself onto her feet before grabbing the first aid kit from the table where she'd left it the night before and left the living room before going upstairs. Once in the bathroom, Ember locked the door behind her and pulled of her tank top before starting to unwind the bandages from her waist. She tossed the bandages onto the counter, planning to reuse them as there wasn't a limitless supply on bandages. After removing the bloodied gauze pads, Ember grabbed a towel and pressed it against the wound until the bleeding had stopped. Once it had, Ember redressed it before pulling on her tank top again to go downstairs. As she got there, she found that Caleb had fallen asleep again and Ember had the feeling that Caleb hadn't really slept all that well during the night which made her feel guilty as she suspected that he'd stayed awake in case she woke up from a nightmare.

After Ember had changed into a clean tank top, she sat down at the table and booted up her laptop to start plotting the route that would lead them to Frankfurt.

By the time that Ember had plotted the route, she found out that at one point they'd have to cross a river, so Ember felt that this was going to be the perfect opportunity to be able to have a proper wash as they hadn't had the opportunity for the past week.

As soon as Caleb had woken up, the two of them had a quick breakfast before going onto the road. Ember sat in the driver's seat to try and hide the fact that there was something wrong with her while Caleb kept an eye on the compass. After an hour or so, Ember pulled the jeep over at the edge of the river that they'd have to cross in order to get into Germany.

"We're seriously going to wash here?" Caleb asked after the two of them had climbed out of the jeep and walked over to the water's edge.

"Yes." Ember replied, grabbing her blood soaked tank top from her backpack. "The water's clear enough so it should be safe."

The two of them walked over to the water's edge and once there, Ember started to take of her boots and started opening the belt to her jeans. Seeing as that day it was really warm, Ember suspected that the temperate was nearing the 30 degrees Celsius, she figured that her tank top would dry soon enough before they had to move on.

"What are you doing?" Caleb asked, giving her a look that resembled a deer in the headlights.

"I'm not going to walk into the water with jeans on." Ember replied as she unbuttoned her jeans. "d'you have any idea how uncomfortable that'll be?"

she shook her head and pulled off her jeans, ignoring the fact that Caleb still looked at her like she was an alien. Ember started walking into the river and when she was about waist deep, she felt a shiver running down her spine. The water was kind of cool, but it wasn't uncomfortably so.

"Well, what are you waiting for?" Ember asked as she watched Caleb still standing on land. "Come on in, the water's fine."

"I'm not sure that's a good idea." Caleb remarked.

"Don't make me drag you in here." Ember remarked before grinning. "You know I'll do it."

"Ruby, you know water and cybernetics don't mix." Caleb shook his head.

"Oh come on, you've only got cybernetics in your upper body, don't you?" Ember asked.

"I've got an implant in my leg too." Caleb replied.

"Bugger, I forgot." Ember remarked. "Sorry about that..."

"It's alright." Caleb shrugged.

Ember sighed deeply as she watched Caleb crouching down at the water's edge before taking off his glove to start splasing water in his face. She could've kicked herself for forgetting that Caleb had cybernetics in his leg too, after all, she's been pouring over the date of the scan the two of them had done for hours when Caleb was sick, trying to understand the sickness that had been raging through his body before he had been frozen.

"So much for that idea." Ember muttered to herself as she started to try and wash the blood from her tank top.

A few moments later, Ember had rinsed out as much of the blood as she could and after ducking underneath the surface of the water, Ember wrung out her hair and walked out of the river to join Caleb on the bank. She sat down on the sand before spreading out the tank top behind her so she could rest her head on it before lying down to stare up at the sky.

"That felt good." Ember remarked, brushing her damp bangs out of her face.

"How do you feel?" Caleb asked as he lay back in the sand.

"I'm fine." Ember shrugged. "I just hurt a little."

"Did you take...?" Caleb started.

"yes, I took the pain killers." Ember smiled. "they're starting to kick in, so don't worry about me, okay?" "Alright." Caleb smiled.

"This is nice, isn't it?" Ember asked. "Not having to worry about anything for a while. Just the two of us sitting on the edge of a river, not a care in the world."

"Yeah, it is." Caleb agreed, smiling slightly.

Ember glanced over at him and smiled back at him before looking up at the sky again, letting the sun dry her up.

A few hours later, Ember pulled her jeans back on so she and Caleb could get back onto the road again. Ember glanced over at Caleb to find that he was looking slightly depressed.

"You alright?" Ember asked.

"Yeah, fine." Caleb nodded. "Nothing to worry about."

"Okay..." Ember said slowly.

She wasn't convinced that Caleb was fine at all, if anything he was looking even more depressed than from before she'd asked if he was fine. She sighed as she realized that Caleb was probably trying to deal with everything that had happened in the Wolf Faction encampment.

"Hey." Ember said as she walked over to Caleb. "Are you alright? I mean, with everything that's happened..."

"I'm fine, Ruby." Caleb replied. "Nothing to worry about."

"Caleb, I find that hard to believe." Ember replied. "I mean, you..."

"Ruby, I'm fine." Caleb said firmly. "Can you please just leave it?"

Ember stared at Caleb for a moment before sighing and climbing behind the steering wheel. As soon as Caleb had sat down, Ember started the engine and drove away from the river so they could move on to the next signal. During the next few hours, Caleb and Ember went over what had happened in the Wolf Faction, mainly the stuff that got them into the mess that they'd been in. In the end they decided to be weary of people they met and make sure that they knew for certain that the people they met in the future weren't going to be dangerous.

Over the next few days, Ember's wound had started to become infected. she didn't know how it had happened as she'd kept the wound clean during the trip to Frankfurt but still the infection got so bad that Ember was starting to feel the effects of it. She was starting to feel sick and felt tired the whole time and Ember wanted nothing more than just curl up in bed and take a long break from the world of 2110.

As soon as Caleb and Ember had made camp in a ground floor flat in an old apartment building close the signal in the middle of Frankfurt, Ember disappeared into the bathroom and locked the door behind her. During the trip, she'd run out of gauze pads to use and she had resorted to cutting up her bloodstained tank top of course she didn't use the parts that were actually already stained with blood. As Ember peeled the fabric of the cut up tank top from her wound, she grimaced as she saw that the skin around the wound had turned bright red and pus was oozing out of the wound. As she cleaned it out, she thought about how she had to find professional help if she was going to get better from the infection and for it to heal properly, but she didn't know where she needed to start looking to get that kind of help. When there was a knock on the door, Ember jumped and turned to look at it only to realize that the door was still closed.

"Are you okay in there?" Caleb asked.

"Yeah, fine." Ember replied as she tied of the bandages. "Give me a sec."

Once Ember was done, she made sure that everything was cleared away before opening the door to find that Caleb was waiting for her.

"Are you sure you're okay?" Caleb asked.

"Yeah, I'm fine." Ember replied. "What about you?"

"I'm not the one who got hurt." Caleb said as Ember walked into the living room.

"actually you did, but I wasn't referring to the physical kind." Ember replied. "the word has two meanings. One of them is the physical type of getting hurt and the other is the emotional side."

"I don't know what you're talking about, Ruby." Caleb stated, getting defensive.

"Caleb, you killed someone." Ember stated. "That's not something you can do and just forget about it. I know you Caleb, I know what kind of person you are and I know how you remind works. And I know that you're not the same person you were a couple of days ago."

"I killed him to safe you."Caleb replied. "He was going to kill you, I had to do something."

"So you killed him?" Ember asked. "There were other things you could've done, Caleb. You could've used the pummel and knocked him out."

"I don't know what you mean by that." Caleb said.

"Don't you dare change the subject, Caleb Lansing-Gant." Ember said angrily before sighing. "You didn't have to kill him to safe me... you could've just knocked him out something..."

"I didn't know what else to do." Caleb said. "The Wolves were right; people like me are dangerous... I'm a monster."

"Caleb, no..." Ember started.

"It's true!" Caleb interrupted. "I murdered a human. They were right to try and kill me."

"Don't you say that!" Ember interrupted loudly before taking Caleb's face in her hands to make him look at her. "Don't you dare say that ever again! They didn't have the right to do something like that. No-one has the right to make decisions like that, no-one, d'you hear me?"

"But..." Caleb started.

"No, they don't have the right to decide who lives or dies." Ember interrupted. "You have as much right to live as anyone else does, maybe even more so than anyone else. You saved the world, remember? You were the one to defeat Neuros; you were the one that destroyed Arkon..."

"It doesn't take away the fact that I killed a human." Caleb stated, pulling away from Ember. "I'm a monster."

"No, Caleb..." Ember started as he started to move to the door of the flat.

"You'd be better off without me, Ruby." Caleb said.

Ember winced as the door slammed shut behind Caleb. it almost seemed like Fate adding insult to injury when a sharp stab of pain shot through Ember's side and it was so bad that it forced her to her knees. During the past few days, that had happened before, but Ember had been lucky enough to be able to hide it from Caleb. She knew he had enough to worry about without adding her problems to it. Once the pain had passed, Ember pushed herself to her feet and walked over to the dining table that was standing in the room.

She sat down at it and leaned her head on her arm that was resting on the table. After a few moments, she pressed her eyes against her forearms to keep the tears of frustration at bay. She wanted nothing more than to go after Caleb and talk to him, but she knew that he needed some time alone to think. The last thing that she'd wanted was for Caleb ever having to kill someone, she knew what it did to a person and she didn't want anyone to go through that, least of all Caleb. But it was too late for that now...

By the time that Ember opened her eyes again, the sun had come up and after a few moments of looking around, she found that Caleb hadn't come back into the apartment. After gathering what little courage she had left and pushing down the sick feeling that had settled into her stomach, she pushed herself to her feet and went outside to find Caleb. As Ember walked outside, she found Caleb sitting in the passenger seat of the jeep. He was staring straight ahead and Ember knew that he was lost in thought.

"Hey." Ember said, getting Caleb's attention.

"Hey." Caleb said without looking over at her.

"So... are you alright?" Ember asked.

"Yeah, I'm fine." Caleb replied. "Are you ready to go?"

"I'll go pack my things." Ember said silently, severely doubting that Caleb was actually fine.

She sighed as she walked back into the flat and gathered her things before carrying her backpack outside. Once she'd put the backpack into the backseat of the jeep, she climbed into the driver's seat.

10 minutes later, they had tracked down the source of the signal and they found that it was a hospital where the signal was coming from. Ember's eyes lit up as hospitals meant proper medical supplies and proper medical supplies meant antibiotics. Without exchanging a single word, Caleb and Ember climbed out of the jeep and after Ember had grabbed the scanner from her backpack, the two of them walked over to the front door of the hospital.

"There's people here." Ember remarked as she glanced down at the scanner to find that there were humans inside the hospital.

"Great." Caleb said although it lacked enthusiasm.

Ember sighed as they stepped into the hospital and started to walk down the corridor past reception towards the human signal. As they walked, Ember started to feel like she was burning up from the inside and by the time they passed the first door, her vision was starting to double. Ember put her hand against the wall to steady herself and stopped as her knees were starting to feel weak.

"Something's wrong..." Ember said.

"What's that?" Caleb asked.

Before Ember could answer, everything went black.

**So that's it for chapter 22! Hope you enjoyed it!**

**I plan to have the next chapter up tomorrow evening:)**

**X Abby.**


	23. Chapter 23

**Hiya!**

**Sorry about the lateness of this chapter! I know I said I'd post it on Sunday but RL got in the way once again*facepalms***

**Anywho, the next two chapters are going to have a twist. Instead of them being written from Ember/Ruby's POV, it's going to be written from Caleb's POV. Also I should warn you that he's going to be a bit darker than the Caleb we know from the show in these chapters.**

**Hope you're going to enjoy!**

**Chapter 23: Hippocratic Oath**

Caleb turned around after hearing a dull thud and his eyes widened when he saw that Ruby had fallen to the ground. She lay there unmoving with her eyes closed, if Caleb hadn't known better he would've said that she was sleeping.

"Ruby?" Caleb asked before rushing over to her. "Ruby? Ruby, wake up!"

Despite his initial fear, Caleb forced himself to calm down, it took a few moments, but when he had, he realized that they were in a hospital. He remembered that Ruby had told him that hospitals were places where people went to get better. He didn't know what was wrong with her, but he did know that Ruby was sick; it wasn't that hard to see. Ruby's face was pale, paler than he felt it should be and she was sweating while it wasn't warm in the building at all, not to mention that her face seemed like it was twisted in pain.

"Ruby, wake up." Caleb tried, lightly shaking her. "Ruby!"

Ruby didn't respond to this other than a soft moan that escaped her. Not knowing what else to do, Caleb felt that the best thing to do was find somewhere safe where he could leave Ruby for a while so he could go find something that would help her. After putting the scanner that Ruby always seemed to be carrying around into his thigh pack, Caleb carefully scooped her up into his arms before getting to his feet. Ruby moaned quietly at the movement before her head rolled to rest against Caleb's shoulder.

"Don't worry, Ruby." Caleb said although he wasn't sure whether Ruby could hear him. "I'm going to make you better."

Caleb walked through the corridors, not really sure where he was supposed to go, all that Ruby had told him was that they would be able to restock their medical supplies, although he didn't know what she had meant by it. The only thing he could think of that they'd ran out of medical supplies as Ruby kept changing her bandages from time to time. After walking around for a few moments, he found a room that had 6 beds in it. Figuring this was a good as place as any to leave Ruby for a while, Caleb stepped into the room and carefully put Ruby down on one of the beds. Ruby moaned a little as Caleb put her down but that was it, she didn't make any move to start waking up. Caleb reached for the zipper of her vest, reasoning that seeing that she was sweating so much, she must've been feeling really warm. It took a little effort, seeing as Caleb had to move Ruby's body for her, but he managed to get the vest off and after carefully helping her lie back down, he put it over a chair beside the bed.

"I won't be gone long." Caleb said quietly.

He started to turn to the door only to stop when he saw that two humans, both of them male, were watching him. What was curious was that the two men were looking identical as if they were clones, but there were subtle differences like hairstyle and eye colour. Caleb couldn't help but feeling his hands starting to itch and his muscles tightening, ready to spring into action if it turned out that these men were a threat to Ruby. Or himself.

"Who are you?" Caleb asked.

He couldn't help but be wary of the two men. The memories from what happened inside the Wolf Faction compound were still too fresh in his mind and the last thing he wanted was be locked up again because of his cybernetics.

"We're not gonna hurt you." The left man said. "I'm Stu, this is Rory. We're part of the Hippocrates Faction."

"Yeah, we're stationed here in the hospital." Rory agreed. "You're here because of the signal, right?"

"That can wait." Stu stated, glancing over at Rory. "The girl's sick, go get Lindsay and Yuki."

Rory nodded before leaving the room and taking off at a run. Caleb just at Stu, not sure what to make of the man, or whether he could trust him. Caleb glanced back at Ruby for a moment, wondering what she would do if the roles were reversed. She'd probably risk trusting the man while being cautious of what could happen. The only thing that Caleb could think of that could happen was that he was going to be separated from Ruby again and locked up and that was the last thing he wanted. Not just because he didn't want to be alone again, but because he didn't want to leave Ruby on her own now that she was sick.

"What's wrong with her?" Stu asked as he came walking over to the bed that Ruby was lying on.

Caleb didn't say anything as he stepped into Stu's path, silently telling him to stay away from Ruby.

"How do I know I can trust you?" Caleb asked.

"Good question."Stu replied. "I don't know how to answer that though, but all of us here have been taught not to harm another human."

"He's telling the truth." A female voice said.

Caleb turned to look at the door to find that Rory had come back along with two women. One of them was around his age while the other was older, a lot older by the looks of lines in her face.

"I'm Dr. Lindsay Newton." The older woman said. "Where is the girl?"

Before Caleb could even say anything, Lindsay walked over to the bed that Ruby was lying on and gently pushed Caleb aside.

"Hey..." Caleb started to protest.

"Stand aside please." Lindsay said firmly, but not in an unkind way.

Caleb stared as Lindsay started to look at Ruby while the other girl brought over a bag that had a large red cross on it.

"Leave her alone." Caleb said, trying to pull Lindsay away from Ruby.

"Let her do her job, dude." Rory said, grabbing hold of Caleb's arm and pulling him away from the bed. "Your girlfriend..."

"My what?" Caleb asked.

"Rory shut it." Stu said before turning to Caleb. "Your friend's going to be alright, just let Lindsey and Yuki do their thing, alright?"

"What's your name?" Lindsay asked.

"Caleb." Caleb replied.

"And the girl?" Lindsay asked.

"Ruby." Caleb replied.

Lindsay nodded before turning to Ruby and using a small flashlight to shine into Ruby's eyes.

"Ruby? Ruby, can you hear me?" Lindsay asked.

Ruby didn't respond to this at all and Lindsay sighed before turning to face Caleb.

"How long has she been like this?" Lindsay asked.

"I... I don't know... she just fell." Caleb admitted. "But she's been hurt."

"Where and when?" Lindsay asked.

"4 days ago, on her side." Caleb replied.

Lindsay didn't reply and turned back to look at Ruby again. Caleb ran a hand through his hair; everything that had happened in the past 5 minutes was just too much to take in. he watched as Yuki pulled Ruby's tank top away and quickly removed the bandages to reveal the wound. It didn't look all that healthy, the skin around it was bright red and white fluid oozed out of it when Lindsay gently pressed on it which caused Ruby to moan with pain.

"What are you doing?" Caleb demanded as Ruby squirmed a little to get away from Lindsay's touch. "Leave her alone!"

"The wound is heavily infected." Lindsay said, ignoring Caleb. "Yuki, get her started on the antibiotic herbs. Rory, Stu, go find blankets and make sure she stays warm."

"Yes, Doctor." Yuki, Rory and Stu said at the same time before getting to work.

"Caleb, come with me." Lindsay said.

"But Ruby..." Caleb started.

"She's in safe hands." Lindsay replied, gently pulling Caleb along with her. "Come on."

Caleb glanced back at Ruby for a few moments before leaving the room with Lindsay.

"Who are you?" Caleb asked.

"Doctor Lindsay Newton." Lindsay replied. "I'm the leader of the Cat Faction, also known as the Hippocratic Faction. And you're Caleb, leader of the FutureGate Resistance."

"How do you know that?" Caleb asked.

"We've been listening to your transmission from the start." Lindsay replied. "We just weren't able to reply. So, Ruby must be one of your recruits, right?"

"Yeah, she is..." Caleb said slowly. "is... is Ruby going to be okay?"

"Yes, yes. Ruby is going to be fine." Lindsay smiled. "She should be up on her feet in a few days. How did she get hurt? It looks like she's been stabbed."

"It was someone from the Wolf Faction, he tried to kill her." Caleb replied.

"Ah, yes, the Wolf Faction." Lindsay sighed sadly. "I've heard about them. They have little tolerance for cyborgs."

"I noticed." Caleb replied, trying not to show his discomfort at his memories from the Wolf Faction camp.

"You have nothing to worry about, my dear." Lindsay said, patting Caleb's cybernetic arm. "We're different from them. We accept all people here, no matter what age, race or cybernetics."

Caleb stared at Lindsay for a few moments; he wasn't sure what to make of the woman. Something in her reminded her of Cybele, but he was still uncertain of what to do without Ruby around. Out of the two of them, Ruby was the one with the social skills, something that Caleb had heavily relied on before the Wolf Faction found out that he had Cybernetic implants.

Now he was on his own and he wasn't sure what he was supposed to be doing, not only that, he was also still wracked with guilt about having killed a human.

"You're going to be fine, Caleb." Lindsay smiled. "We're going to take care of you and Ruby."

"What do you mean?" Caleb asked.

"Well, I can see that you're hurt too." Lindsay replied as she pushed a door open. "Not just physically, unfortunately there is nothing we can do about your bruises; the only thing I can do is provide you with some pain relievers. I can see that you're emotionally hurt too and we're going to help you with this. Now, this is where you can stay while Ruby heals, if there's anything you need, just ask anyone. You're free to explore the building when you want."

"When can I see Ruby again?" Caleb asked.

"She needs rest for now." Lindsay replied. "You can go visit her later this afternoon, I'll have Rory or Stu come find you. You should try to get some rest for now; I'll have someone bring you some food and pain relievers."

Before Caleb could say something anything, Lindsay had left the room, leaving him on his own. Caleb sighed deeply before starting to look around the room to find that it was basically non-descript. It had a simple bed and a single chair in it; Caleb walked over to the window and looked out over the ruined city of... what had Ruby called it? Right, Frankfurt.

As he looked out over the ruined city, Caleb couldn't help but think about what must've happened when the Roboidz invaded. For a few moments he wondered if it was anything like that movie he'd seen, Terminator, but on second thought, he rather didn't know, if it was as horrible as he had seen in the movie, he didn't want to know at all.

Caleb sighed as he walked over to the bed and sat down on it. He ran his hands over his face for a few moments before looking down at them. As he did, he could see the moment that he ran through Orion with a sword he'd picked up from a fallen soldier in his mind. When he had heard Ruby cry out in pain as she tried to fight Orion, he started to get angry, so angry he couldn't think about anything else than hurting Orion for what he'd done to her. So he had ended up picking up a sword and running Orion through, just like he'd seen in that movie with the little people and a ring.

But when Caleb had done that, he didn't know that it was going to do this to him, he didn't feel like himself anymore. He felt guilty, terrible... he felt like a freak. More than anything he wished that he could just rip out his cybernetic implants as he was sure that they were the cause of him killing Orion, but removing his implants would mean certain death. He didn't know where his implants had come from, but he did know that they were a crucial part of him, without them he wouldn't be able to live. More than anything he didn't want to die.

"Fried bolts." Caleb whispered, resting his head into his hands.

He could feel tears burning in his eyes, but before he could let them fall, there was a knock at the door, which forced him to blink them back before raising his head to find that Stu was standing in the doorway, holding a tray in one arm.

"Hey, Lindsay asked me to bring this over to you." Stu remarked. "You should drink the tea; it's got some pain relieving herbs in it."

"Thanks..." Caleb said watching Stu put the tray down on the chair.

"Don't worry, Ruby's gonna be fine." Stu said, leaning against the wall.

"Can I see her?" Caleb asked.

"Better not." Stu shook his head. "Lindsay will freak out if you don't follow her orders. She is the Doc after all."

"I don't know what that means..." Caleb said slowly.

"A Doc." Stu said. "You know, a Doctor?"

"Oh right." Caleb nodded, faking that he understood.

In reality he didn't understand what a Doctor was at all, Ruby had mentioned the word when she explained what a Hospital was, but she hadn't elaborated on it. Although having seen what Lindsay had done while they were in Ruby's room, he was able to figure it out what a Doctor was.

"Come on man, lighten up." Stu remarked. "It's not all bad, your friend's gonna be up in a few days time. It's just an infection, not like she's not gonna die from it, at least not now she's getting treatment."

"She could've died from it?" Caleb asked, his eyes widening a little.

Caleb watched as Stu sighed before slapping himself on the forehead.

"Me and my big mouth." Stu remarked. "Don't worry about any of that, alright? We've got her on some good, strong medication; she's not going to die."

"Are you sure?" Caleb asked uncertainly.

"Positive." Stu replied. "Lindsay is the best Doctor we've got and Yuki's the best nurse we've got. Ruby is going to be just fine."

Caleb nodded silently and went back to looking at the floor.

"Hey, I gotta go." Stu remarked. "Anything you need, come find me, alright?"

"Thank you." Caleb nodded.

"Don't forget to drink the tea." Stu said as he left the room.

Caleb watched Stu leave before he lowered his head into his hands again, wondering what he was going to do about the whole situation.

**So that was it for this chapter, I really hope that I didn't disappoint! Personally I don't think that I'm able to get down Caleb's character really well, so if you could let me know whether or not I did a good job would really be appreciated!:) **

**Oh by the way, see if you can guess where I got the OC names in this chapter from;).**

**Next chapter will be up ASAP.**

**X Abby**


	24. Chapter 24

**Hello! **

**Sorry this one took a while!**

**Been really busy with finding a job! Anywho, hope you enjoy this one!**

Chapter 24: Haunted

Caleb stared at the food for a while, wondering about whether it was safe to eat, and whether the drink would really help with the pain, but in the end he decided not to risk it until he was sure that he could trust the people in this faction. He decided to go and explore the hospital a little, get a feel for the place as well as finding quick escape routes should he need it.

After leaving his room, Caleb started walking around only to get to a courtyard. The courtyard was filled with people and all of them seemed to know each other as he could see people talking to each other everywhere he looked. None of them seemed to look at him though, it was almost as if they were used to people with cybernetics just walking into the room. That didn't help though; Caleb still started to feel uncomfortable so he pulled his hoodie up to hide his cybernetics. As he wanted to get out of there, Caleb started to turn back to the door only to run into Rory.

"Hey dude." Rory said, shoving his hands into his pockets. "So you're not Ruby's boyfriend, right?"

"What?" Caleb asked.

"That was the answer I was looking for." Rory smirked. "So you think I got a shot with her?"

"I don't know what you're talking about." Caleb stated.

"Dude, how can you not know what I'm talking about?" Rory asked.

"I just don't." Caleb replied, starting to feel embarrassed. "I don't know what you mean."

"Dude, you've got a lot to learn." Rory replied. "Alright, you call someone your girlfriend when you love them and they love you too. It's easy."

"For you maybe..." Caleb muttered.

"Don't worry about it dude, I'll have you up to speed with the whole chick thing in no time." Rory smirked.

"Rory, the last thing Caleb needs right now is advice on how to deal with women." A woman's voice said.

Caleb turned around to find that the girl, Yuki, was walking up to them.

"Ah come on, Yuki, I was just having a bit of fun." Rory replied as Yuki crossed her arms over her chest.

"Go have your fun somewhere else, Rory." Yuki replied. "Leave the guy alone."

"Buzz kill." Rory shrugged before walking off.

Caleb watched as Yuki shook her head and sighed deeply before turning she turned to face him.

"Sorry about him, he's a little too obsessed when it comes to women, especially the new ones that find their way here." Yuki said. "Are you alright? You look... I don't know, tired I guess."

"Yes, I'm fine." Caleb replied.

"Are you sure?" Yuki asked.

Caleb sighed as he looked down at the ground, he wasn't feeling fine at all, he couldn't put the thoughts he had about killing a person aside, plus he still felt that he was a danger to other people, especially Ruby. The last thing he wanted was to hurt her.

"Hey, things might look bad, but they'll get better." Yuki said.

Caleb glanced up when she reached out and put a hand on his arm. He couldn't understand why, but it seemed like that all women he knew, with the exception of Tweaks, tended to do that. He knew that it was meant to be a form of comfort giving, but he couldn't help but feel uncomfortable by it, because the person trying to offer comfort was a complete stranger to him.

"What happened?" Yuki asked.

"I don't want to talk about it." Caleb replied, looking away.

"Are you sure?" Yuki asked. "It might help you get through whatever's happened."

"Look, it won't matter how much I talk about it." Caleb replied, stepping back from Yuki. "What I've done... it can't be fixed by talking about it. It's not something that can be put right by putting a bandage on it."

"Come; let's not talk about this here." Yuki said.

Without any sort of warning, Yuki took Caleb's cybernetic hand into her own and lead him out of the courtyard. Caleb didn't know where they were going, but Yuki clearly did as she walked around the hospital like she knew exactly where she was going.

"Why are your eyes different from mine?" Caleb asked.

"My ancestors were from Japan." Yuki replied as she pushed a door open. "It's an island of the east side of the main land. At least that's where it used to be before the Roboidz destroyed it completely. Yuki is Japanese, it means Blessing. We're here."

Caleb watched as Yuki pushed the door closed behind them before he turned to look at the room. He was a little surprised to find that the room was filled with plants of all shapes and sizes.

"I always come here when I want to be alone." Yuki said as she stepped further into the room. "My mother used to tend to the plants here. Most of them are herbs that encourage healing."

Caleb looked around at the plants for a moment, he didn't know how they could help heal someone, but he did hope that they could help Ruby.

"You killed someone, didn't you?" Yuki asked as she turned to face Caleb

"How do you know that?" Caleb replied.

He was sure that he'd hidden the fact that he was a killer pretty well, but clearly he hadn't hidden it as well as he thought.

"I can see it in your eyes." Yuki said. "I've seen that look before; it's the look of someone who feels guilt over what he's done. So what happened? I heard from Lindsay you visited the Wolf Faction."

"One of the men... Orion, he started a revolt..." Caleb sighed as he sat down against the wall by the door. "Ruby threw herself into the fight and she got hurt... I didn't mean to kill him, but I picked up the sword and the next thing I knew I had stabbed him through the chest. I didn't want to kill him; I just wanted to stop him from hurting Ruby..."

"Have you told Ruby this?" Yuki asked as she sat down beside Caleb.

"I did..." Caleb nodded. "But she got angry. "

"Caleb, if she's your friend, I doubt that she is actually angry with you." Yuki said. "I mean, you did it to save her life, didn't you?"

"Yes, but..." Caleb started.

"She was probably angry because she's worried about you." Yuki interrupted. "I mean, she probably knows that you're feeling guilty about it, she probably wanted to help you but didn't know how, that's probably why she got angry."

"You think so?" Caleb asked.

"Yeah." Yuki nodded. "People do strange things when they're worried."

"I don't know what to do." Caleb said, lowering his head into his hands. "I mean, the Wolf Faction was right... cyborgs are dangerous to humans..."

"No they're not." Yuki replied. "The Wolf Faction just thinks that because they've had bad experiences with cyborgs. Not everyone thinks like they do. I don't hate cyborgs, if I did, do you think I'd be sitting here with you?"

"Probably not." Caleb shook his head. "But I don't know where my implants come from... I mean, what if the Roboidz put them into me?"

"Caleb, if there's one thing I know about Roboidz, it's that they don't put cybernetics into humans." Yuki replied. "If they get their kettle-head hands on a human, it's off to the shade plant with them, besides, your cybernetics look far too complex to have been made by Roboidz."

"Are you sure?" Caleb asked, looking over at Yuki.

"Yes, I'm sure." Yuki nodded.

Caleb nodded silently before looking straight ahead of him as he thought. What Yuki had said made sense, but he wasn't convinced at all.

"Look, I've got to go do my rounds." Yuki said as she climbed to her feet. "Maybe you should go visit Ruby, maybe she's awake."

"I don't know how to get there..." Caleb said.

"I'll show you." Yuki replied. "Come on."

Caleb nodded and climbed to his feet. He followed Yuki as she led the way. A while later, they had reached the room where Ruby was in and Caleb found that she'd been moved. After Yuki had showed Caleb to Ruby's room, she left, leaving Caleb alone with younger resistance member.

Caleb stepped into the room and silently closed the door behind him before going over to the single bed in the room that Ruby was lying on. As he walked over to the bed, he picked up a chair and put it downs right beside the bed. After sitting down in it, Caleb ran his hands over his face and looking at Ruby to find that she was still looking far too pale in his opinion, not to mention she was still sweating. She'd been covered with blankets and Caleb wasn't sure why this was, seeing as Ruby was already sweating terribly, but he had a feeling that the people in the faction knew what they were doing.

"Bloody hell..." Caleb whispered, rubbing his face again with both hands.

As he stared at Ruby, he thought about how he could've missed her getting sick, but the more he thought about it, the more sense it made. The way that Ruby insisted on taking care of her cut herself, the way she moved around being careful with every movement she made, the way she blamed her pain on the painkillers having stopped working.

"I'm so sorry, Ruby." Caleb whispered. "I should've seen it."

He should have realized it before. After all, he was the leader of the resistance on FutureGate; it was his task to make sure his recruits were alright. Just as Caleb looked up at Ruby, she started groaning in her sleep.

"Caleb." she whispered.

"I'm here." Caleb replied, reaching out and taking hold of Ruby's hand. "I'm here, Ruby."

"Please, don't." Ruby whispered. "No, Caleb, don't..."

"Shhh, I'm here, Ruby." Caleb said, standing up from his chair and sitting on the edge of her bed. "It's okay, you're safe here."

When Caleb carefully put his hand on Ruby's forehead, Ruby settled back into sleep again with a quiet sigh.

"That's it." Caleb whispered. "You're safe."

Caleb watched as Ruby leaned into his touch for a few moments before he carefully pulled his hand away. He glanced down at her hand clasped into his cybernetic one and every instinct screamed at him to let go as it felt wrong to him to hold her hand with his cybernetic one. Instead of letting go abruptly like his mind was telling him too, he carefully put it into his human hand before letting go with his cybernetic one.

Caleb sighed deeply as he thought about his possibilities. He knew that Ruby was going to be better off without him as he was not only a killer, but also a cyborg as Yuki had called it. The Wolf Faction was right, cyborgs were dangerous; all they did was hurt people. All he could think about at that moment was to leave Ruby on her own to find her way back to FutureGate on her own so she could back to her own time, back to her own home.

It was there and then that Caleb made his decision, once Ruby was healed enough so he could be sure that she was going to be alright, he would leave her behind with the Hippocrates Faction. After making his decision, Caleb left Ruby's room to go find Lindsay and tell him about his plan.

It was one week later when Caleb received word that Ruby's fever had broken, which meant that she was healing properly. During that time, she hadn't been awake at all, except for one or two occasions when Caleb hadn't been present. During the week that Caleb waited for Ruby to get better, he had been working on expanding the signal so the Hippocratics could make contact with other factions if they needed help.

"Are you sure you want to do this?" Lindsay asked as Caleb leaned against the doorframe of Ruby's room.

"Yeah." Caleb nodded. "She's better off without me."

"I'm sure that Ruby won't see it that way." Lindsay stated.

"Maybe not." Caleb agreed. "But it's for her own safety... I don't want to risk her getting hurt."

"Well, if you're sure about doing this, there is no way I'll be able to stop you." Lindsay sighed. "Make sure you stay safe yourself."

"I'll be alright." Caleb shrugged. "Just take care of Ruby."

"Of course." Lindsay replied. "She'll be in good hands."

"Can you... can you give her this when she wakes up?" Caleb asked, taking an envelope and Ruby's scanner out of his thigh pack.

"Yes." Lindsay replied, taking the two items. "Of course we can."

"Thanks." Caleb nodded. "For everything."

"We should be thanking you for all you've done for us." Lindsay smiled. "After all, you freed us from the Roboidz and you helped us with our communications systems."

Caleb nodded silently and after one last look at Ruby, he started walking over to the exit of the hospital. Once outside, he found Rory and Stu standing near an old car.

"So you're really leaving then?" Rory asked.

"Yeah, I am." Caleb nodded.

"So you're gonna leave that girl all on her own?" Rory asked. "Are you mental?"

"What?" Caleb asked, frowning at the man as he didn't understand.

"Leaving a girl like that all on her own, you must be mental to do that." Rory continued. "Ever stopped to think what she might say if she finds out why you left?"

"Rory, shut up." Stu scolded his twin. "It's nothing to do with us. If Caleb wants to leave Ruby here, it's his decision. We should stay out of it."

"I still say you're mental, dude." Rory shook his head before heading inside.

Caleb stared at Rory as he walked into the hospital before he turned to Stu who was shaking his head over his twin's antics.

"Don't mind him. It's nothing to do with him what you decide to do anyway." Stu remarked before patting the hood of the car. "But we patched this thing up for you, Lindsay asked us too so you won't have to go on foot. It's got enough fuel in it to last you a few days, plus there's an extra canister in the trunk."

"Thanks." Caleb nodded.

"No problem." Stu shrugged before holding out his hand. "Take care of yourself, man."

"I will." Caleb replied before shaking Stu's hand.

After Stu had let go of Caleb's hand, he shoved his hands into his pockets and started walking into the hospital. Caleb sighed deeply before walking over to the driver's side of the car and climbing in. After a few moments of looking at the controls, Caleb started the engine and drove away from the hospital. After stopping where the jeep had been parked to pick up his backpack, Caleb left the city of Frankfurt.

**So that's it for this chapter! Hope you enjoyed it!**

**Next chapter we're going to go back to Ember/Ruby's POV. :)**

**I'm not sure when that's going to be posted, but it'll be ASAP!**

**X Abby**


	25. Chapter 25

**Hiya!**

**Sorry about the lateness of this! mad weeks going on!**

**Anywho, thanks for reviewing and enjoy this one!**

**Chapter 25: Ember's New Mission**

When Ember started to wake up, she felt her entire body aching as if she'd been fighting with Arkon. As she opened her eyes, the first thing she saw was the white ceiling with cracks in it. Looking around, she realized that she was lying in a hospital bed, but she was all alone.

Ember pushed the blanket that was covering her off and slowly started to sit up. She sucked in a breath of air when she felt a shot of pain shooting through her side. Because of this, she looked down at herself to find that she was wearing a set of pyjamas that were way too big on her, so much so that they were slipping of one shoulder. Ember frowned for a moment before lifting up the shirt to find that there was a crisp white bandage covering her wound.

"What the hell..." Ember muttered.

After thinking and frowning for a moment, Ember pushed herself to her feet. She slowly started walking over to the door, making sure that she didn't make a wrong move with her side and end up hurting herself again. Not knowing how long she'd been unconscious bothered her, all she remembered was that she started to feel really light-headed as she walked with Caleb through the corridor of the hospital, but after that things went pitch-black. But this didn't really bother her, it wasn't like she hadn't fainted before, it bothered her that she didn't know where Caleb was, the fact that he wasn't in the room with her, despite the fact that he believed that he was now a monster, she doubted whether he would just leave her on her own while she was unconscious.

"Hello?" Ember called as she stepped out of the room. "Is anyone there?"

Just as Ember started to slowly go down the corridor, an older woman and two men her age, twins by the look of them came walking down the corridor towards her. Ember didn't know whether these people were friendly or not, her suspicions were leaning towards the 'friendly' option seeing as they had tended to her wounds but until she was sure, she wasn't going to take any chances. Despite the fact that

"Ruby." The older woman said once she'd reached Ember. "You should be in bed."

"But I..." Ember started.

"No buts." The woman replied sternly. "Come on."

Ember didn't have the chance to protest, seeing as the woman took her by the arm in a firm but gentle grip, and lead her back to the bed she'd waken up on. She didn't even get the chance to react as the woman had caught her off guard by the way the lady was treating her. She was acting somewhere between a concerned grandmother and nurse.

"What the hell is going on here?" Ember demanded after she'd been forced to sit on the bed. "Who are you?"

"It's alright." The woman replied, covering Ember with the blankets. "My name is Dr. Lindsay Newton, I'm the leader of the Cat Faction, or Hippocrates faction as some would know it."

"I'm Rory, by the way." One of the twins, the one with the longer hair and blue eyes, remarked.

"Rory, shut it." the other twin, the one with the shorter hair and brown eyes, ordered.

"You're such a buzz kill, Stu." Rory replied. "I'm just saying hi."

"Stu, Rory, attend to your duties, please." Lindsay said calmly.

"Yes, ma'am." Rory said, giving a mock salute.

"Idiot." Stu said, slapping his brother against the back of the head.

Ember stared as the twins left the room, closing the door behind them, but through the window, she could see them starting up a slight argument, which Stu was clearly going to be winning by the looks of it.

"What's going on?" Ember asked, turning to face Lindsay again. "Where's Caleb?"

"I'm sorry, Ruby, but Caleb left." Lindsay replied, her face showing nothing but compassion.

Ember stared at Lindsay as the information that she'd just been told sunk in.

"No... No, he wouldn't leave... that's not like him..." Ember shook her head after a few moments. "He wouldn't do that... he wouldn't leave me like this... why the hell didn't you stop him!"

"There was nothing I could've done to stop it. I'm sorry, Ruby." Lindsay sighed sadly before taking out an envelope and the modified scanner. "Caleb told me to give you this."

Ember felt her hands shaking as she took the scanner and envelope from Lindsay. She dropped the scanner down on her lap before opening the envelope to find that there was a letter inside of it.

'Ruby,

By the time you're reading this, I'll be gone. The reason for this is because I want to make sure that you stay safe which means that we have to be apart. I want you to go back to FutureGate; Cybele will make sure you can go home.

Please, don't come looking for me, Ruby.

Your friend,

Caleb;

It took a few re-reads for the information to actually sink in. She didn't think that Caleb would do something like that, but the letter in her hands was the evidence of him actually leaving her behind. When that realization set in, tears started to form in her eyes.

"No..." she whispered as the first tears started to fall. "He wouldn't do that..."

"I'm sorry, Ruby." Lindsay repeated sadly.

"My name is not Ruby, it's Ember!" Ember yelled in anger. "Why the hell didn't you stop him? You know what; don't even bother telling me, I've got to..."

"Ember, I can't allow you to go anywhere." Lindsay said calmly.

"Bollocks to that!" Ember yelled angrily. ""I've got to find him!"

"Ember, you've not yet fully recovered." Lindsay said, displaying the patience of a saint as Ember started to climb out of the bed.

"I don't care." Ember replied walking over to where her clothes were. "I've got to find Caleb. Nothing is more important than doing that."

"Ember, he wanted to leave you behind. He wouldn't have done that without having a good reason for it." Lindsay stated as Ember changed into her own clothes before sitting down on the bed to put on her boots.

"Bollocks to that. You don't even know him the way I do, so don't even try to pretend you know his reasons for leaving." Ember replied, her voice deathly quiet as the initial anger passed while she buckled the belt of her gun holster up. "His reasons are wrong, he is wracked with guilt. He's got this stupid idea in his head that cyborgs are evil because he killed a man to safe my life and now he believes that he's a danger to me because of that. I know exactly what he's thinking, Doc, and I'm telling you, he is not thinking straight. So I don't care what you think is going on or what you think I should be doing. Bollocks to all of it, I'm leaving, now."

At the end of her rant, Ember zipped up her vest before moving over to the door, only to find that the twins were blocking her path. She didn't know how it happened though; the two of them were leaving.

"Out of my way." Ember ordered calmly.

The twins just stood there, watching Ember as they calmly crossed their arms over their chest. Rory stood with a slight smirk on his face while Stu stood beside him with a look that told Ember that he wasn't planning on going anywhere, no matter what she said.

"I said, let me pass." Ember said firmly as she started to get angry again.

"Stu, Rory, you know what to do." Lindsay said calmly.

"Sorry about this." Stu remarked.

"Yeah, it's for your own good." Rory agreed.

Ember didn't even get a warning as Stu and Rory reached out and grabbed hold of her and dragged her back to the bed.

"No!" Ember yelled as she fought back to get out of the twins grasp. "No, get of me! Let go of me!"

It didn't matter how much Ember fought back to get free, the two of them didn't give her an inch to work with. They pinned her down on the bed while Lindsay set to work fastening straps around her ankles and wrists to tie her down.

"Stop!" Ember yelled as she struggled. "Let me go!"

Once Lindsay had fastened the last strap around Ember's ankle, the three resistance members stepped back from the bed, but not before Lindsay had taken the gun from Ember's holster and put it aside on the bedside table.

"I'm sorry Ember." Lindsay said. "We can't let you leave until you're fully healed."

"I swear to God, if you don't let me go right now you're going to regret it." Ember yelled in anger. "No matter what good intentions you might have, you're going to regret all of this!"

"This is all for your own good, Ember." Lindsay replied as the twins left the room. "You'll see this in time."

"Yeah, and when I get out of here, I'm going to make you pay." Ember snapped.

Lindsay just gave Ember a solemn look before she left the room and closed the door behind her, leaving Ember alone in the room.

"Biggest mistake on the planet..." Ember muttered to herself.

She started to test her bonds and a few tries to see how much movement she had showed that she was able to reach the pockets of her vest if she moved her body closer to one of her hands. With some effort, and a slightly sore wrist, Ember had been able to grab her switch blade from one of the pockets and opened it up. She was glad for a moment that it was just the tip that had broken off and the rest of the blade was undamaged, meaning that it was still sharp. After adjusting the knife so she could use it properly, Ember started to cut at the strap around her wrist.

A while later, Ember had been able to cut through the leather of the strap, unfortunately though, she had slipped a few times and that meant that she'd cut into her skin. Even though the cuts hurt, Ember couldn't care less, all she could think about was escaping the Cat/Hippocrates Faction and finding Caleb.

The blood on her hand made it more difficult to remove the strap around her other wrist, but the second she succeeded; she removed the straps around her ankles and climbed to her feet.

Despite the fact that she had threatened to make Dr. Newton pay, Ember decided to ignore that in favour of escaping the hospital. So after grabbing her gun from the bedside table and stealing bandages and gauze pads from the cupboards and stuffing them into her pockets, she moved over to the door. After glancing around the corner for a few moments to see if the coast is clear, Ember left the room and started walking down the corridor in the hopes she was going to the right direction to the exit.

She found out that she was going in the right direction a few seconds later as she recognized the corridor as the one that she'd passed out in. She started running as fast as she could despite the pain, wanting nothing more than to just get the hell out of there and find Caleb. not to mention that she didn't want to waste any more time in the hospital as she didn't know how long it had been since Caleb left.

A few minutes later, Ember reached the exit and she shoved the door open. The second that she'd done that, she heard an alarm going off somewhere deep in the hospital, you didn't have to be a rocket scientist to know that it was because Ember had been able to escape. Trying to ignore the pain in her side, Ember started to run as fast as she could down the street in the direction of the location where she and Caleb had left the jeep behind.

10 or so minutes later, Ember reached the jeep and she skidded to a halt when she saw that the twins were waiting for her. Knowing that there was no time to run, Ember decided to stay and fight.

"Hey." Rory smirked. "Going somewhere?"

"What the hell are you doing here?" Ember asked, pulling out her gun and aiming it at the twins.

"Stopping you from doing something incredibly stupid." Stu replied, crossing his arms over his chest, not looking intimidated at all.

"You don't know me, buddy." Ember replied angrily. "Get the hell out of my way or you're going to regret it."

"We can't do that, Lara Croft." Rory smirked, leaning back against the jeep. "We've got our orders."

Ember didn't know where Rory had heard the name Lara Croft, but she shrugged the thoughts of as she steadied her aim.

"Get the hell out of my way." Ember repeated, her voice turning deathly cold again. "Or I swear to god, you are going to regret it."

"Yeah, even if we believed in God, we still wouldn't move." Stu replied, looking calmer than someone should with a gun aimed at them.

"Well aren't you the pessimist?" Ember snapped. "Get the hell out of my way, now!"

Ember stared as both Stu and Rory just kept leaning against the jeep, watching calmly her.

"You're not a killer, Ruby." Stu stated. "Put the gun away and we can talk."

"Yeah, how do I know you're not going to tie me up again?" Ember challenged.

"We had our orders." Rory shrugged. "You really don't want to ignore Doc Newton's orders."

"Does it look like I care?" Ember snapped. "And like hell am I going to trust you."

"Look, we know how much you care about Caleb." Stu remarked. "And we want to help you."

"Yeah, we wanna help you find him." Rory agreed. "I mean, he's the guy who saved the planet, the least we can do is help you."

"Go on." Ember replied, slowly lowering the gun, wondering if it was a good idea to trust them.

"You're not fully healed yet." Stu explained. "Leave now, you're just going to get infected again and after a while, your blood will turn to poison and you die. How can you help Caleb when you're dead?"

"Why don't you just give me the antibiotics instead?" Ember challenged.

"Because they don't exist anymore." Stu replied. "We've been forced to go back to herbal remedies."

"Fine, then give me those herbs and I'll be out of your way." Ember replied.

"Not going to happen, sister." Rory smirked. "You wouldn't know how to use them."

"I used to be Wiccan so I know how to use herbs, thank you very much." Ember replied, giving Rory a glare.

"It does not gonna happen either way." Stu shook his head.

"So what then?" Ember asked. "You wanna come with me? That's not going to happen either."

"It's either that or we're going to take you back to the hospital until you're healed." Stu remarked. "Imagine the amount of time that you'll have to catch up on when that happens."

Ember glared at the twins, she knew that they were right, that and she didn't have a chance against the two of them. Plus that she knew that they knew the same thing.

"Son of a bitch." Ember swore under her breath before deciding. "Alright, fine, you've got a deal. But double cross me, and you'll regret it."

"Awesome." Rory grinned.

"Don't get excited, little brother." Stu stated. "You know what to do?"

"Yup." Rory grinned.

"Alright, good luck." Stu said before turning to Ember. "I'm going to stay and make sure that Lindsay doesn't find out about you leaving until you're a good distance away. And I'm sorry, but I'm going to make her believe that you've kidnapped Rory to get away."

"Great, make me the bad guy why don't you?" Ember replied, somewhat sarcastically. "You know what? I don't care, whatever you need to do, do it."

"Alright." Stu nodded before turning to his twin. "Be care full and remember what I taught you, alright?"

"Yeah, yeah." Rory waved his brother off. "I'll be fine."

Ember watched as Stu and Rory exchanged a brotherly hug before Stu started to walk back towards the direction of the hospital, passing her in the process.

Ember sighed deeply, despite the fact that she was forced into the deal, she was grateful for the fact that the twins were this willing to help her.

"Stu, wait." Ember said, turning to face him.

"What?" Stu asked, turning around too.

"Thank you for doing this." Ember said, genuinely meaning it.

"No problem." Stu nodded.

Stu turned away and kept walking towards the hospital while Ember turned back to face Rory, who was grinning at her.

"I know why you're grinning, but not gonna happen, buddy." Ember said firmly as she climbed into the driver's seat. "Keep it in your pants, got that? I'm taken."

To prove her point, Ember held up her right hand to show the silver ring with a Lapis Lazuli stone set into it that was sitting around her ring finger.

"It's just a ring." Rory remarked.

"Yeah, one that was given to me by my boyfriend." Ember replied. "Don't forget that, alright?"

Without another word, Ember started the engine and barely gave Rory enough time to get in before driving away.

She gripped the steering wheel in a white knuckled grip before she glanced down at her ring, remembering the time that Rutger had given it to her. It was their three month anniversary and it was supposed to be this romantic night in at Ember's house, but of course, it was interrupted by Bryce. But after Ember had kicked him out of the room, Rutger had pulled out the ring and intended to slide it around Ember's ring finger, but somehow Rutger had misjudged the size and it had turned out too big for her ring finger. Because of this, it had to be remade first before it could actually fit around Ember's finger.

Ember smiled a little at the memory of how flustered Rutger had looked when he had slid the ring around her finger for the first time, but after a few moments, she shook the memories out of her mind and turned it to finding Caleb. She didn't have a clue where she was going to start, but she did know that she would need help from someone who knew about surviving in the terrain of 2110. Sure maybe Rory knew how to survive, but she didn't trust him as far as she could throw him, so that meant that she needed someone she could trust. This meant that she would have to go back to Utrecht in Holland to seek out Tweaks. Ember hoped that she would be willing to help out in finding Caleb, if not; Ember seriously didn't know where she would be able to go to search for help. Maybe it wasn't the right move to go back to Utrecht first, maybe she had to grab her laptop once she was a good distance away from the Cat/Hippocrates Faction, but she needed someone she could trust by her side, and Rory just didn't qualify as that person.

"So, where are we going?" Rory asked, leaning back in his seat, smirking smugly.

"To find a friend." Ember replied.

"A friend huh?" Rory repeated. "What kind of friend?"

"It's none of your business." Ember replied coldly. "Just because I agreed with this deal you and your twin forced on me, doesn't mean that I'm going to trust you, got that? So instead of questioning my actions and choices, you might want to just sit back and let me make the choices I'm going to make."

With that, Ember turned back to look at the road and didn't give Rory a second glance.

**So that's it for this chapter!**

**Unfortunately I can't promise when I'll be posting the next one, but it'll be soon!**

**X Abby**


	26. Chapter 26

**Hiya!**

**I'm so sorry about the lack of updates; RL has been demanding constant attention, leaving me with practically no time to update! I promise I'll try to update at least once a week from this point on!**

**Thanks for the lovely reviews and hope you enjoy this chapter!:D**

**Chapter 26: A Cry for help**

A few days later, Ember and Rory had reached Utrecht and Ember pulled the car over close to the church where the Wolf faction was stationed.

"This is it?" Rory asked as Ember turned off the engine.

"This is where we're going to get help." Ember replied, climbing out of the jeep. "I suggest you stop talking and leave that to me while we're here. Some messed up things happened here... things that I've been a part of and I don't know what kind of reception we're going to get here."

Without another word, Ember stalked over to the door of the church with her head held high. When she stepped inside, she walked straight to the entrance of the catacombs without waiting for Rory to catch up. She shoved the gate open and that's when Rory joined her, having needed to run to catch up with her.

Maybe a minute after Ember and Rory had stepped inside the catacombs, 4 guards appeared and surrounded the pair of them. Ember remained calm, watching the 4 guards for a reaction while Rory started to get nervous and raised his hands into the air.

"Follow my lead and put your bloody hands down." Ember hissed from the corner of her mouth before turning to face the guards. "I'm Ruby, member of the FutureGate Resistance; I'm here to speak with Tweaks."

"Men, stand down!" a voice ordered.

Ember grinned as she recognized the voice. It was Tweaks, who was coming up behind the soldiers.

"Is this how you welcome a hero?" Tweaks asked as she stepped past the soldiers who all lowered their weapons.

"Tweaks." Ember said, stepping forward. "Good to see you."

"You too." Tweaks replied.

Ember originally intended to shake the older resistance fighter's hand, but as it turned out, Tweaks ignored it in favour for a friendly hug. Only this time, it didn't surprise Ember so she hugged Tweaks back for a few moments before pulling away. Tweaks then turned to Rory, clearly having expected to see Caleb standing beside Ember.

"Who are you?" Tweaks asked, immediately getting suspicious of the stranger.

"He's with me." Ember said before Rory could even open his mouth. "His name's Rory of the Cat faction in Frankfurt."

"Hippocrates Faction huh?" Tweaks remarked, giving Rory a once over.

"Yeah." Rory smirked.

"Don't get any ideas." Ember warned him before turning back to Tweaks. "We need to talk, in private."

"Sure, follow me." Tweaks nodded.

Ember nodded and fell instep beside Tweaks, leaving Rory to follow behind the pair. Neither of them said anything until they reached the war room, what Ember noticed was that she couldn't see Quinn as Tweaks lead the way to Quinn's office.

"Where's your father?" Ember asked after they stepped into the office and seeing that Quinn wasn't there either.

"Sick bay." Tweaks replied. "He's still recovering from the mutiny."

"What happened?" Ember asked. "I thought that he wasn't hurt that badly, at least, it didn't look like he was."

"It turns out that Orion did more damage than we initially thought." Tweaks explained. "When I came back here after the fighting stopped, it turned out that my father had been hiding his wounds, he lost a lot of blood."

"He's going to be alright, isn't he?" Ember asked, shoving her hands in her pockets as she couldn't help but feel a little guilty for everything she said to Quinn..

"Yes, he's well on his way to recovery." Tweaks smiled before sitting down on the edge of the desk. "So tell me, where's Caleb? We've got a lot to thank him for; after all, killing the leader of the mutiny is no small feat."

"That's why I'm here." Ember replied. "Caleb ran away."

"What?" Tweaks asked. "What happened?"

"I don't know." Ember replied. "All I know is that the wound Orion caused got infected and I passed out when we were in the Hippocrates camp, the next thing I know, I wake up and the Doc Newton hands me a letter."

To prove her point, Ember pulled the letter out and passed it to Tweaks, who read it in silence before sighing.

"Blast." Tweaks swore, passing the letter back to Ember. "Why would he do that?"

"Because he's been feeling a lot of guilt over something." Rory remarked, which made Ember glare at him. "Hey, don't look at me like, I'm just repeating what I've been told by Yuki, she hasn't told me what's been going on or why he was feeling guilty."

"He's feeling guilty over Orion's death?" Tweaks asked as she glanced over at Ember.

"Yes." Ember nodded. "He's never done something like that before. You see, he's got the emotional responses of a 5 year old child. Because he was locked up here for being a Cyborg, he now firmly believes that he is evil and that he is dangerous to people, it doesn't matter to him that he killed to protect someone he cares about, he still thinks it's evil what he's done."

"Then he had a problem with the Roboidz too?" Tweaks asked.

"No, that's different." Ember shook her head. "They're not human nor are they living beings."

"He killed a person?" Rory asked. "Seriously? Why?"

"She said why. He did it to protect her." Tweaks replied, before she turned back to face Ember. "Wait, you said that your wound got infected? How could you let it get that far? Did Caleb know?"

"No he didn't." Ember replied. "And I tried my best to stop it from happening, but I lacked the means to do so."

"Why didn't you tell him?" Tweaks asked, crossing her arms over her chest as she did. "Blast, Ruby, he cares about you, what you think went through his mind when you passed out? He must've been worrying sick about you!"

"Look, I know I made a mistake, okay?" Ember replied, starting to feel immensely guilty as those thoughts had crossed her mind before. "You don't have to rub my face in it..."

Ember took a few deep breaths to calm herself before looking up at Tweaks again.

"Tweaks, please, I need your help to find him." Ember pleaded.

"What do you need?" Tweaks asked.

"I need you to come with me." Ember replied. "You're the only person in this world I can trust."

"Hey!" Rory complained. "Haven't I done enough to earn your trust?"

"No, you haven't. The whole taking care of my wound is just part of your job, besides if you'll remember, you and your brother forced me into this deal..." Ember replied coolly before turning back to Tweaks. "Please, I need help, I can't just sit by and let Caleb roam the planet, I have to put my mistakes right... I don't know what I can do to find him."

"Okay, calm down." Tweaks smiled as Ember started to tear up. "I'll help you; after all, I owe you and Caleb for saving my father, not to mention the whole faction from breaking up."

"Thank you." Ember breathed in relief. "Thank you so much."

"Go ahead outside; I'll be there in 15." Tweaks said. "I'll let the guards know to give you free passage."

Ember nodded and left the room behind Tweaks. Once out of the war room, Ember started making her way back to the exit of the compound. But somewhere, Ember managed to take a wrong turn and that lead them to a courtyard, complete with foliage that looked like it served as a graveyard. In the middle of it, there was the statue of an Angel and by the looks of it, the statue served as a grave marker, leading Ember to believe that that had to be the first grave of the courtyard.

"What's that?" Rory asked, gesturing at the Angel.

"It's an Angel." Ember replied. "People believed them to be the servants of God. They probably took it down here from the church on the ground floor. They're not uncommon in grave yards."

"Wonder who it's for." Rory remarked.

Ember rolled her eyes as he stepped onto the graveyard and walked over to the Angel. When he reached it, he crouched down in front of it to study the plaque that was on it. Ember sighed deeply as she stepped onto the graveyard herself and joined Rory.

"Never heard of the saying, 'curiosity killed the cat'?" Ember asked as she crossed her arms over her chest.

"Cute." Rory replied before looking back at the plaque of the Angel statue. "What does this mean?"

Ember crouched down by the statue and smiled a little when she read the Latin on the plaque. She'd always loved that language even though she wasn't all that good at it; however the Latin that was written on the plaque wasn't that hard to understand as Ember knew the verse by heart, having read it hundreds of time on the internet.

"Angele Dei, qui custos es mei, me, tibi commissum pietate superna, illumina, custodi, rege et guberna. Amen." Ember read out before smiling. "It means, 'Angel of God, my guardian dear, to whom God's love commits me here. Ever this day/night be at my side, to light, to guard, to rule and guide. Amen.'"

"That's... cool, I guess." Rory remarked.

"Just because you don't have faith in God doesn't mean that others don't." Ember scoffed before reading the name. "Amelia, beloved daughter, wife and mother..."

"She was my mother." Tweaks' voice remarked.

When Ember got to her feet and turned around, she found that Tweaks was standing behind them, a duffle bag over her shoulder and looking like she was about to start crying.

"I'm sorry for your loss." Ember said as she walked over to Tweaks. "Really, I know what it's like to lose a parent. It's not easy."

"It's okay." Tweaks replied. "It happened when I was still a child I barely remember her."

"Still, it's not easy to grow up without a mother." Ember stated.

"I managed."Tweaks replied.

Ember glanced at Tweaks for a moment and she knew that Tweaks was shutting down, or rather hiding her emotions about it.

"Let's go, shall we?" Tweaks asked. "We've got a friend to find."

"Yeah, you're right." Ember nodded.

Without waiting for Rory, the two girls walked away from the statue and started leaving the catacombs.

"Are you going to keep ignoring me?" Rory asked.

"Until you've earned my trust, yes." Ember replied.

"Agreed. "Tweaks simply replied.

"Great." Rory complained. "Stu should've taken this part of the plan."

"If your roles were turned, he would've gotten the same treatment." Ember replied as they left the church.

"Yeah right." Rory scoffed silently, but it didn't go unnoticed by either Ember or Tweaks.

The two girls exchanged a look and rolled their eyes at each other before both of them climbed into the front of the jeep, with Ember behind the wheel and Tweaks in the passenger seat.

"Hey, where am I supposed to sit?" Rory complained, staring at Tweaks.

"Just get in the back if you don't want to walk." Ember stated, getting annoyed with the man as she started the engine. "I suggest you do it fast or I'm leaving you here."

"So where do we start?" Tweaks asked as Rory jumped into the back of the jeep.

"I have no idea." Ember sighed deeply. "I don't know where he could've gone... I mean, our mission was to find three signals, one in Belgium, one in Holland and one in Germany... we found all three of them, so basically we're done with the mission... so I don't know where he could've gone..."

"Don't worry, we'll find him." Tweaks said reassuringly. "The best thing to do is go back to where you last saw him and go from there."

"Yeah, alright." Ember nodded. "Hold on."

Ember pressed down the gas pedal as far as she dared. Despite the fact that it probably wouldn't matter, she hoped that it would get her back to Frankfurt a little faster.

It took 2 and a half days to get back to Frankfurt and Ember parked the jeep close to a military base that was miles away from the hospital. The idea had been Rory's which had come as a surprise to Ember and Tweaks. He told them the old military base was still in working order as sometimes the Hippocrates engineers would go over there for spare parts to keep the hospital generators in working order.

"While we're here, we should gather some fuel." Ember remarked. "We're starting to run out and if that happens, well, let's just say that we're going to be screwed."

"There should be enough in the storage room." Rory replied.

"We can go get it later." Ember nodded. "We need a control room or computer room first."

"This way." Rory said, leading the way.

Ember and Tweaks exchanged a look before following Rory. Both of them were starting to wonder whether they had been right to treat Rory like they had. Over the past 2 and a half days, he had really come through for Ember. Her wound had started to become infected again even though Rory made sure that it was being kept clean, but thanks to Rory's quick reaction the infection didn't have the chance to spread at all. The two girls followed Rory through the corridors of the base before they reached a room that Ember recognized as a central computer room.

"Now we're in business." Ember remarked as she put down her backpack on one of the tables.

She ran up to the consoles at the end of the room and as soon as she got there, she started taking inventory of what she had to work with.

"Can you use any of this stuff?" Tweaks asked as she followed Ember.

"Hell yeah I can." Ember replied with more confidence than she felt. "This is going to be easier than taking candy from a baby."

"Did someone mention food?" Rory asked as he joined the two women.

"No." Both Ember and Tweaks replied at the same time.

"It's a figure of speech." Tweaks stated.

"Huh." Rory huffed. "Too bad, I'm starting to get a little peckish."

"Check my backpack." Ember said without looking up from the console. "I should have something in it."

"So this means you trust me?" Rory asked, looking surprised.

"Getting there." Ember replied, glancing up and smiling slightly.

"I'll take that as progress." Rory grinned as he started going over to Ember's backpack.

"Are you sure that you can find Caleb with this?" Tweaks asked as Ember started to type on the keyboard.

"I hope so." Ember replied. "Otherwise I won't know what to do... right now I'm hoping that I can bounce a signal through a satellite or something and find Caleb that way, but first there's something I need to do."

Ember felt like she had to explain to Cybele what the hell was going on first, with a little luck, she'd be able to help the Resistance fighters. In her mind, keeping what was happening a secret wouldn't work anyway, Cybele was going to find out sooner or later what was going on, so it was better that she found out as soon as possible. Ember also felt this was necessary so that she could bear the brunt of Cybele's anger, something she didn't want Caleb to experience.

Ember started to get to work with putting up a link that would allow her to contact FutureGate, but to do so, she had to hack into the signal that the Hippocrates Faction had running. As soon as she had finished, she put on the headset that Tweaks had found before starting the transmission.

"This is Ruby calling FutureGate." Ember said. "FutureGate, please respond."

Ember listened to the static that was coming out of the headphones for a moment before glancing at Tweaks and shaking her head.

"Keep trying." Tweaks encouraged. "You'll be able to make it work."

"This is Ruby calling FutureGate." Ember repeated. "FutureGate, please respond."

Ember fell silent and listened hard for a response, but only got static in return.

"Damnit!" Ember swore, slamming her hand down on the console.

"Ruby, calm down." Tweaks said. "It'll work."

"I don't know what else to do." Ember replied, starting to get desperate. "This tech is all beyond me; it's too weird and futuristic! I've never dealt with this kind of tech before all the other stuff was easy... but this? I just can't do it!"

Ember dropped down in the seat that was standing at the console before lowering her head into her hands, her desperation having reached its peak. She really was at a loss of what to do, meaning that her desperation was starting to make way for full blown panic.

"Hey, you can't give in just because you stumbled upon a minor setback." Tweaks remarked, crouching down in front of Ember. "So what if all this technology is too futuristic for you? There's going to be something that you recognize as usable. And if not, you can adapt, learn how to use this technology."

"What the hell is that supposed to mean?" Rory asked as he joined the two women after raiding Ember's backpack. "Too futuristic? Dude, this stuff is ancient."

"For you it is." Ember replied. "Never mind, you wouldn't understand."

"If you say so." Rory shrugged. "Okay, let me have a go."

"Since when do you know stuff about computers?" Tweaks asked.

"Since I picked up a thing or two during scavenging runs." Rory replied as if it was obvious.

Ember stared as Rory started typing in command and through her headset, she could hear the static clearing up.

"Try it now." Rory said.

"This is Ruby calling FutureGate." Ember tried again. "Cybele, can you hear me? Please respond."

"Ruby, I can hear you." Cybele's voice said.

Ember felt so relieved that she could've started crying there and then; instead, she focused on finding a way to tell Cybele the news.

"Cybele, it's so good to hear your voice." Ember said. "You've got no idea."

"Yours too." Cybele replied. "How are you and Caleb? Is everything alright?"

"Mission accomplished." Ember replied. "Turned out that two of the signals were of other resistance factions, the Wolves and the Cats. The last one was a trap."

"Did you get hurt?" Cybele asked sounding concerned.

"Well, not when it came to the trap." Ember replied. "Don't worry; Caleb is alright... at least I think he is..."

"You think is?" Cybele repeated.

Ember grimaced a little at Cybele's tone; she knew that was the tone that clearly said to get to the point.

"Ruby, tell me what is going on." Cybele said firmly.

"Okay..." Ember replied. "I'll tell you everything... just hear me out until the end..."

**So that's it for chapter 26!**

**I hope you enjoyed it! next update is going to be next week!**

**X Abby**


	27. Chapter 27

**Hello! **

**I'm so sorry for not updating this sooner! Life is just not giving me the time to do so!**

**Before I forget, I wish everyone the best for 2012!:D Hope everyone still has their fingers!**

**Enjoy this chapter!:)**

**Chapter 27: Calling Cybele**

Ember told Cybele everything that had happened, from the first time they set foot on French soil to the moment that Ember woke up in the middle of the Hippocrates faction. Cybele didn't interrupt Ember once and once Ember had finished telling the tale, with the help of Rory, who filled in the blanks about the time that Ember was unconscious.

At the end of it all, Cybele had gone completely silent, and Ember knew that this was a bad thing as she was properly shocked into silence.

"Cybele?" Ember asked into the headset. "Are you still there?"

There was no reply, all Ember could hear was silence other than the familiar creaking sounds of metal expanding or shrinking. Ember glanced over at Tweaks for a moment; she had been listening in to the whole thing as Rory had managed to activate the speaker function.

"Keep talking." Tweaks whispered.

"Cybele?" Ember asked again. "Are you there? Please, answer me."

"I'm here." Cybele replied, her voice sounding beyond shocked. "How... how could you have let this happen?"

Ember was taken aback by this comment, she hadn't thought about the fact that Cybele would blame her for all of this; she thought that Cybele would understand.

"But... what?" Ember asked in disbelief.

"You swore to me you would keep my son safe, Ruby." Cybele said sharply.

"But I..." Ember started before the headset was yanked of her head by Tweaks.

Ember stared at Tweaks as she put the headset on herself and adjusted the microphone for a few moments. Ember grimaced a little when she saw the expression on Tweaks' face, it was screaming anger.

"You have no right to blame Ruby for this." Tweaks snapped.

"Who is this?" Cybele barked, her voice resonating through the room through the speakers.

The AI's voice was so loud that Ember couldn't help but cringe a little especially as the tone of voice just screamed fury.

"Tweaks..." Ember started.

"I don't think you'll want to do that." Rory remarked, putting his hand on Ember's shoulder to stop her.

"But..." Ember started.

"Just don't, Ruby." Rory replied.

Ember stared at Rory for a few moments before turning back to face Tweaks, who was looking as if she was fuming.

"I'm Tweaks, daughter of Quinn of the Wolf faction." Tweaks stated as if she was reporting to a commanding officer.

Ember knew that was a mistake to say on Tweaks' part especially after Ember telling Cybele everything that had happened within the Wolf faction. She could practically hear Cybele fume on the other end of the signal.

"What are you doing near Ruby?" Cybele demanded. "After everything you put them through!"

"If it wasn't for me, both Ruby and your son would be dead." Tweaks stated coldly. "I know the truth about them."

Ember stared at Tweaks for a few moments as it was unexpected for her to say this. During everything that had happened in the Wolf compound, Ember had expected Tweaks to completely forget about that seeing as she had other things on her mind such as making a plan to keep her father safe.

"That doesn't change anything." Cybele replied just as coldly. "You can't be trusted."

"Oh really?" Tweaks asked, crossing her arms over her chest. "Then tell me, why did Ruby come to me for help? She could've asked the Hippocrates faction for help but she didn't, did she?"

"Hey!" Rory complained which got him a glare from Tweaks.

"Tweaks just leave it." Ember said to which Tweaks held up her hand at Ember.

"Ruby put her own life at risk in trying to keep your son safe." Tweaks continued. "she went beyond the call of duty, you don't have the right to blame her for Caleb running away, she tried everything she could to convince Caleb that what he did wasn't a bad thing. It isn't her fault that Caleb ran away while she was unconscious because of being sick."

"Ruby was being a fool." Cybele snapped which made Ember cringe. "She should know better than go swimming in infected waters. Even if it looks clean doesn't mean that it is clean. She should know this."

"Can you blame her for wanting to wash?" Tweaks snapped back. "How would you feel if you were covered in a week and a half's worth of grime, not to mention dried blood, wouldn't you want to clean that off?"

"This isn't the point." Cybele replied.

"Yes is it." Tweaks stated. "You can't blame her for doing that, Ruby doesn't have the knowledge of surviving here that we do, you and I both know this. You don't have the right to blame Ruby for anything, she tried her very best to protect Caleb, that's more than you could ask of her."

Ember watched as Tweaks' eyes were still burning with fire, it was kind of cringe-worthy to watch. For a few moments Ember was glad that she wasn't on the receiving end of that.

"How dare you speak to me like that?" Cybele replied. "You..."

"Stop it!" Ember yelled. "Just stop it! This isn't going to help us find Caleb! That should be our priority! Cybele if you want to yell at me, do it when we're back on FutureGate, alright? Please, just help us find Caleb."

"I'll see what I can do." Cybele replied. "Stay where you are, I'll contact you when I found something."

Ember took the headset back from Tweaks and held the microphone close to her mouth to avoid having to put it on her head again.

"Cybele, we've got make a start on finding Caleb." Ember interjected. "We can't just sit around here and wait for a response!"

"Then what do you suggest we do, Ember?" Cybele asked sharply.

Ember cringed a little at Cybele's tone of voice, she hadn't expected her to call Ember by her real name at all and immediately a million thoughts ran through her head when it came to explaining to Rory and Tweaks why Cybele had called her Ember.

"Well?" Cybele asked when Ember didn't reply.

"We find a portable comm." Rory stated. "Key it in to this signal and we're good to go."

"We'll see." Cybele replied.

Ember stared at the headset as the channel turned to static. It didn't take a genius to figure out that Cybele was beyond angry, which meant that Ember was going to be in a lot of trouble once she and Caleb got back to FutureGate.

"I'm done for." Ember grimaced.

"Worry about that later." Tweaks replied, putting her hand on Ember's shoulder.

"not really helping me in the feeling better department..." Ember muttered.

"sorry." Tweaks grimaced slightly. "Why did she call you Ember?"

"I don't know." Ember lied. "Maybe I reminded her of someone else..."

There was nothing more that Ember hated than lying but she felt she didn't have another choice, even though that was just creating a whole web of lies that Ember couldn't see herself getting out of any time soon.

"We have to find that comm system and get a move on. We're losing time." Ember said, letting her leader instincts take over so she could focus on that instead.

"This way." Rory said.

Ember and Tweaks exchanged a look before following Rory through the base until they got to a storage locker with various bits and pieces of machinery in it.

"Here we are." Rory said, grabbing a box of headsets. "One of these things should work."

"Should being the operative word." Tweaks agreed. "Do any of us know how to make these things work?"

"Some tinkering won't do much harm." Rory said.

"Tinkering won't do us much good if we don't know what we're doing." Ember stated. "We could end up frying ourselves. We need to see what's still in working order and what's not, once we've done that we can see whether we can tune them in to Cybele's location."

The three of them got to work, while Rory and Tweaks sorted the broken headsets out from the ones that were still working; Ember powered up her laptop and tried to put in the co-ordinates of FutureGate of the devices that were still working. By the time that Ember reached the last one, she was starting to lose hope that she would get one of the headsets working,

"If this one doesn't work I'm going to cry." Ember remarked, feeling like she'd reached the end of her rope.

"It has to work." Tweaks replied. "It just has too."

Ember glanced at Tweaks for a moment before starting to put in the co-ordinates of FutureGate. Once she'd done that, she got a green blinking light on the transmitter box instead of a red one.

"That's good right?"Rory asked. "That green blinking thingy?"

"I don't know..." Ember said slowly.

"One way to find out." Tweaks said, grabbing the headset of the ground.

After looking at it for a few moments, Tweaks pressed a button.

"This is Tweaks calling FutureGate." Tweaks said. "Cybele, please respond. Calm down would you? We were just testing the portable comm we found."

Ember stared at Tweaks as she took the headset off again.

"it's working. "Tweaks shrugged.

"We're not doing enough." Ember stated. "There has to be more we can do... does either of you have any knowledge of any satellites being up and running?"

"I don't know what that word means." Rory shook his head.

"My great-grandfather mentioned that once." Tweaks remarked. "He said Roboidz shot up something called satellites into space to so long distance communication would become easier for them."

"But every bit of Roboidz tech was powered down when Neuros was shut down." Rory stated. "Wouldn't that mean that the satellites went down too?"

"I wouldn't know." Tweaks replied. "I don't even know if my grandfather was telling the truth... he was turning a little senile by that time."

"Let's head back to the command centre, if I can access the computers, maybe I'll be able to make contact with a satellite." Ember said.

The three of them went back to the command centre and once there, Ember started to try making contact with a satellite, although she highly doubted that there were still satellites working now that the Roboidz were all destroyed.

"Anything?" Tweaks asked after maybe an hour of Ember working.

"Not yet..." Ember sighed. "I think this isn't going to work out guys..."

"Wait, what's that?" Rory asked, pointing at the screen.

Ember looked herself and she couldn't help but smile when she saw that it was a signal indicator and right then it was indicating that a signal was being made with a satellite.

"Rory, you're a genius!" Ember exclaimed out of sheer joy.

"It's been said." Rory smirked.

"Your head still needs to go through the door." Tweaks deadpanned before turning to Ember. "Does this mean a satellite is still working?"

"Yes." Ember grinned before reaching into her backpack. "If I can get the signal from this thing into the satellites programming I can track Caleb."

"How?" Rory asked as Ember got to work. "There must be dozens of people the scanner will pick up on."

"True, but Caleb has one thing that we don't have." Ember replied.

"Cybernetics." Tweaks stated.

"Ten points to Tweaks." Ember grinned. "Cybernetics, that's what we don't have, plus I know exactly what to look for when it comes to recognizing Caleb."

Ember hooked up the handheld scanner to the console and got to work again. Maybe a half hour later, Ember had been able to upload the scanner's programming into the satellite and the three of them were now looking at the readout's on the screen.

"What exactly are we looking for?" Rory asked.

"A red dot." Ember replied, putting the images up on the big screen behind her. "Anything that resembles a red dot or a bundle of red dots together."

"Zoom in on the right hand corner." Tweaks said to which Ember followed suit.

She turned to face the screen and saw that Tweaks was pointing at a bundle of red dots clustered together and Ember knew instinctively that this was Caleb, although she had to make sure. She turned back to the console and typed in a few commands after which the image zoomed until the three of them could see the images as if they had been taken with a video camera. The 'video' that was showing was of Caleb, who was trying to build a fire.

"Thank god you're safe..." Ember whispered to herself as she saw that Caleb wasn't hurt.

"FutureGate calling Ruby, come in." Cybele's voice came over the comm system in the console.

Ember snatched the headset up of the table and held it up to her face.

"This is Ruby, go ahead FutureGate." Ember replied. "We're listening."

"I've located him." Cybele said. "He is in what used to be Austria, close to Zurich."

"Gotcha." Ember replied, deciding not to tell Cybele that they'd just managed to track Caleb down himself. "Keep an eye on him for us; let us know if he's on the move."

"Understood." Cybele replied. "FutureGate out."

Ember sighed as she let the device drop back to the table, she should've expected that Cybele would've acted like this after finding out that Caleb had gone missing, but it didn't make it any less painful to Ember.

"Come on, we've got to get a move on." Rory said, already gathering his things.

"Hold on, we can't go without plotting a course, unless you want to get stuck at a river." Tweaks said.

"I'd rather not have to wade through water, thanks very much." Ember remarked as she got to work.

Fifteen minutes later, Ember had plotted their course and the three of them had gotten back into the jeep after grabbing two other headsets that they'd found in one of the desks in the room for Rory and Tweaks. Ember hoped that Caleb wouldn't go on the move again, if he stayed put that night, they would reach him by midnight.

**So that's it for this chapter! I hope you all enjoyed it!**

**The next chapter will be up later this week!**

**X Abby**


	28. Chapter 28

**Hiya!**

**Sorry for not updating sooner! I swear that my memory is starting to become like a sieve! **

**But thanks for the reviews:)**

**This chapter is a little different from others, as this one has a changing Point Of View. Don't worry though, it's clearly noted where the POV changes as to avoid confusion.**

**Hope you'll enjoy this one!**

**Chapter 28: A Missing Cyborg Is Found**

**Caleb's POV**

Caleb sighed as he looked into the flames of the small fire he'd built. For the past week he'd been living like this, travelling from town to town, spending most of his time scavenging what he could from houses to try and find food supplies.

He didn't regret his decision to leave Ruby behind with the Hippocratic Faction though; he was convinced it was the right thing to do as he was dangerous now he was capable of killing a human being. What he did regret though was not being able to go back to FutureGate. After all, how could he go back there and face Cybele after all he had done? It was just impossible, not to mention that Cybele would probably hate him for having killed a human, something he'd sworn to himself he'd never do. Keeping it a secret from Cybele wasn't an option either, she was the closest thing to a mother he had, plus he had sent Ruby back to FutureGate so the recruit could go home, Cybele would demand an explanation about why Caleb wasn't with her.

Caleb sighed again as he lay back on the grass and looked up at the stars, remembering the times he'd stood on the outer decks of FutureGate watching the stars with the sounds of Roboidz working down below. For a moment he wished that it was still like that, but the wish didn't last long as he scolded himself for thinking such a selfish thing, the whole point of him being on FutureGate was to destroy the Roboidz and free Earth from Roboid control.

He sighed once again as he thought about Ruby. She had done so much to help him, destroying Neuros and Arkon, saving his life in the Wolf camp and how did he repay her for everything she'd done? He killed a human... she must've thought that he was a monster despite everything that she had said about not thinking that. She must've been lying, how could someone not think of him as a monster after what he'd done?

"I'm sorry, Ruby." Caleb whispered to the stars.

He closed his eyes, deciding to try and get some sleep but after a few moments, his eyes shot open as he thought he heard Ruby's voice. Caleb stayed as still as possible, almost forgetting to breathe in doing so and then he heard it again.

"Caleb!" Ruby's voice sounded through the night sky.

"Ruby!" Caleb called back without thinking about it.

It took just a split second for Caleb to process what he'd done and once he realized his mistake, he scrambled to his feet. He snatched his backpack up of the ground but before he could run, he saw three shadows coming towards him. One of the shadows was clearly Ruby as she was running faster than the other two. Ruby reached him in a matter of seconds and when she reached him, she threw her arms around his neck and hugging him tightly. Despite Caleb's feeling of not wanting to be found by her, he couldn't help but hug Ruby back just as tightly.

"Oh my god." Ruby gasped. "Don't ever do that to me again, I was worried sick about you."

Caleb chose not to reply to this and instead he glanced over at the other two shadows, he could see now that the other two people were Rory of the Hippocrates faction and Tweaks of the Wolf Faction. As he glanced over at Rory, giving him a questioning look, Rory just shrugged in response.

"You know Ruby, if you hold onto him any tighter, you're going to choke him to death." Rory remarked as he smirked.

"Shut it, Rory." Tweaks stated, smacking the man upside the head.

Ruby let go of Caleb and turned to look at Tweaks and Rory, before she started to smirk as Rory looked like he was pouting as he rubbed the back of his head.

"Thanks, Tweaks." Ruby said.

"Welcome." Tweaks grinned as Ruby turned back to face Caleb.

"What the hell were you thinking?" Ruby asked. "Why on Earth did you run away? Do you have any idea how worried I've been when I found out you'd ran away? Why did you do it?"

"Ruby, stop." Tweaks said as she stepped forward and put her hand on the younger woman's shoulder. "Calm down okay? I'm sure you'll get all the answers you want in time, for now you should just be glad we found him, okay?"

"Yeah, okay." Ruby nodded.

"How did you find me?" Caleb simply asked.

"We had help." Ruby replied.

"From who?" Caleb asked.

"Cybele." Tweaks stated.

Caleb felt his eyes widening, if it was true that Cybele had helped Ruby and the other find him, then that meant that she knew about him killing a human.

"You shouldn't have found me." Caleb said, putting his backpack over his shoulder before starting to walk away to the car he'd been given by the Hippocratics.

"Oh no you don't." Ruby said as she grabbed hold of his cybernetic arm. "We didn't go through all this trouble to find you just so you can run away from me again. It's not going to happen, Caleb."

"You shouldn't be around me, Ruby." Caleb replied. "I'm dangerous."

"Oh really?" Ruby replied, raising an eyebrow. "Tweaks, Rory, give us a moment, please?"

"Of course." Tweaks replied before dragging Rory along with her.

**Ember's POV**

Ember glanced back and watched for a few moments as Tweaks and Rory walked away before turning back to look at Caleb again only to see that he was looking eager to just leave.

"So you're dangerous huh?" Ember asked, starting to feel angry at Caleb's belief. "Then tell me, Caleb, why the hell are you dangerous?"

"You saw what I did." Caleb replied. "I killed Orion."

"You did it to protect me!" Ember exclaimed as her frustration reached its peak. "It's not like you killed him because you wanted to kill him on purpose! Maybe killing him wasn't the right thing to do, I really don't know but I do know that there's a big difference between accidentally killing a person and doing it on purpose!"

"How would you know?" Caleb yelled. "How would you know when I'd do something or not? You don't even know me! At least not as well as you think you do!"

"Don't you dare say that, Caleb!" Ember screamed back. "Not after everything we've been through, I know you better than anyone!"

"I find that hard to believe!" Caleb yelled. "You've only been here for 3 weeks, how would know anything about me?"

"Because it's been more than 3 weeks!" Ember yelled back at him. "You might not remember more than that, but I do! All in all I've been here for almost 6 weeks now and I know more about you than you think! And you know what else, I'm disappointed in you! Instead of talking about what's bothering you, you run away from your problems, that's not the Caleb I know. The Caleb I know would talk to me about his problems, not run and hide from them like a child who's afraid of getting told of!"

"The Caleb you know died along with Orion!" Caleb yelled. "Can't you see that? I am a monster, Ruby, surely you can see that! Why else would I kill a human! For all I know I'm just some failed Roboid experiment and my programming is finally kicking in!"

Before Ember realized what she was doing, she reached out and slapped Caleb in the face as hard as she could. She only realized what she'd done when Caleb slowly raised his hand to touch his cheek, which was turning slightly red.

"Oh my god…" Ember whispered. "I'm sorry…"

"As if you mean it." Caleb replied, the resentment clear in his voice. "Admit it you've been wanting to do that since I killed Orion, didn't you?"

"No, I didn't." Ember replied, completely caught off guard. "I didn't mean…"

"Yeah right." Caleb scoffed as he turned to leave.

"Caleb, wait…" Ember started.

She grabbed hold of his arm, but completely unexpected, he turned around and pushed Ember away, which resulted in her stumbling and eventually falling on the ground as this caught her completely of guard.

"Don't come near me." Caleb warned.

"Is that a challenge?" Ember replied letting her anger get the better of her as she got to the feet. "Because you should know I never say no to a challenge."

"Oh yeah?" Caleb challenged. "What were you going to do? Fight me?"

"And lower myself to Neuros' level?" Ember scoffed. "You should know me better than that by now, Caleb."

"That's the thing; I don't know you at all." Caleb remarked. "I don't know who you are, I don't remember you at all, I can barely remember beating Neuros or Arkon!"

Ember stared at Caleb for a few moments, she knew that Caleb's memories were messed with, but as far as she knew, he remembered everything up until Laura telling him in her message that she was the reason for Caleb's cybernetics.

"Stop!" both Tweaks and Rory's voices yelled.

Ember glanced around to find that Tweaks and Rory were coming towards them. Tweaks ran straight over to Ember while Rory went over to Caleb and the two of them pulled Ember and Caleb away from each other.

"Tweaks let go of me." Ember ordered, trying to pull her arm free.

"Ruby, you don't want to do this." Tweaks stated as she pulled Ember along with her. "Trust me."

"I'm not going to fight him, Tweaks." Ember replied, yanking her arm free. "I don't know what to do to make things clear to him.

"Have you every stopped to think that you're maybe being a little too protective of him?" Tweaks asked.

"What's that supposed to mean?" Ember demanded, glaring at Tweaks.

"See, this is what I mean." Tweaks replied. "When it's something that involves Caleb, you get overprotective, Ruby. You have to realize that Caleb isn't a child anymore. He is a grown man, capable of making his own choices. You can't protect him forever; you're going to have to let him find his own way in the world. You can't make his choices for him."

"So what am I supposed to do then?" Ember asked. "Am I just supposed to sit here and do nothing while Caleb believes that he is a monster? Or worse a failed Roboid experiment? Trust me, him thinking that won't be a good thing, it'll destroy him."

"Ruby, listen to me." Tweaks said firmly, putting her hands on Ember's shoulders. "You're trying to push Caleb into believing he's not what he thinks he is, that's what is working against you right now. He believes that he is a monster or whatever because you're pushing him into thinking that!"

"I don't…" Ember said slowly before shaking her head. "What the hell are you talking about?"

"You're so insistent on making Caleb think he's not a monster, that he is doing the exact opposite and believes that he is a monster." Tweaks asked. "Ruby, trust me; don't push Caleb into talking about this, alright? It'll only end up causing a fight and that's something you don't want right now."

"Then what else am I supposed to do?" Ember asked desperately.

"Be patient." Tweaks replied. "I know it's hard, but patience will get you where you want."

Ember sighed deeply before nodding, she wasn't fond of this idea at all, but if it was the way to go about to get Caleb talking about what was going on, then that's what it was going to take. Ember glanced over at Rory and Caleb and saw that they were exchanging words at a speed that she wondered how they could even understand each other. Although clearly whatever Caleb was trying to tell Rory, it wasn't having an effect as Rory kept interrupting him every time he wanted to say something.

"Rory, stop it." Tweaks called over. "Come on, let's get some sleep."

"But…" Ember started.

"Don't worry." Tweaks replied as they walked over to the men. "Rory and I will keep an eye on Caleb; make sure he doesn't runs of again."

"Thank you…" Ember said quietly.

"No problem." Tweaks replied.

**So that's it for this chapter, a bit short I know, sorry about that!**

**Nonetheless, I hope you enjoyed this one!**

**X Abby**


	29. Chapter 29

**Hello!**

**Here's chapter 29! Enjoy it!**

**Like the previous chapter, this contains Caleb's POV it will be clearly marked where it begins though!**

**Chapter 29: Mending Broken Bridges**

They went back to the fire that Caleb had built and got comfortable. Ember lay back on the grass and looked up at the stars. As she looked at the constellations, she tried to think up of a plan to convince Caleb that he wasn't a monster or whatever he was thinking he was. She didn't know what to do at all... all she could think of was taking Caleb back to FutureGate and have Cybele convince him that he wasn't a monster. Maybe if he didn't listen to her, maybe he would listen to Cybele after all, she was his mother's consciousness even though he didn't know who Cybele really was.

Although the trip there would be a hard one, as Ember probably couldn't count on Tweaks and Rory coming with them, they had their own lives to get back too. Rory had to get back to the Hippocratic faction before they started a witch hunt for Ember and Tweaks had to get back to the Wolf faction to help her father rebuilt after Orion's betrayal. Before they had gone back to their own lives, Ember would need to convince Caleb of what he was thinking was wrong, otherwise she wouldn't be able to get him back to FutureGate at all. It would just turn into a game of cat and mouse with Caleb trying to escape when Ember wasn't looking and her having to find him again to drag him back to FutureGate.

Ember glanced over at Caleb, he was looking up at the stars too, his hands folded behind his head as a makeshift pillow and Ember could see that he was quietly seething. She could understand that he was angry though, after all, she had slapped him unintentionally. Ember looked back at the stars and listened to Rory and Tweaks silently whispering amongst each other. She was lying close enough that she could actually hear what they were saying.

"What are we going to do?" Rory whispered. "We can't just let them go back to FutureGate like this."

"I don't know." Tweaks replied. "One of us will have to go back with them; Ruby won't be able to keep an eye on Caleb on her own."

"Which one of us is going to do that though?" Rory asked. "We both got to get back to our lives at some point."

"We'll find a way." Tweaks replied confidently. "With a bit of luck Ruby'll be able to convince Caleb of the fact he's not a monster like he thinks by the time we get back to your camp."

"Maybe." Rory replied. "But the way it's looking right now, I'm not so sure."

"What's that supposed to mean?" Tweaks demanded quietly.

"Did you see the way Caleb was acting? It was almost like he wanted to attack Ruby." Rory replied.

"Can you blame him?" Tweaks replied. "Don't look at me like that, I'm not defending his actions, but think about it. He's angry, frustrated and who knows what else he's feeling. He needs some way to vent his anger."

"So he attacks Ruby?" Rory asked. "Come on, Tweaks, we both know that he wouldn't just do that. There's gotta be something going on with him, maybe with his cybernetics..."

Ember closed her eyes against the tears that threatened to spill down her face. She just couldn't understand how people could just pass judgement on Caleb just because of his cybernetics. It wasn't his fault he had them... but as she thought about it, she realized that other people wouldn't see it that way.

"Don't say that." Tweaks interrupted. "I might not know him as well as Ruby does, but I do know that his cybernetics aren't a bad thing."

"How do you know that for sure?" Rory asked.

"Ruby told me." Tweaks replied. "His cybernetics were given to him by his mother."

"And that's a guarantee because...?" Rory asked sceptically.

"It means that he wouldn't attack someone just like a Roboid would." Tweaks replied.

"How would you know?" Caleb asked, making Ember open her eyes.

She glanced over at him to find that he was sitting up and he clearly had been listening in on Tweaks and Rory's conversation.

"How can you know that for sure?" Caleb asked. "If my mum gave me my cybernetics, how do you know that they haven't been adapted by Roboidz?"

"Because I saw the schematics myself." Ember replied, sitting up herself. "They don't look anything like Roboid schematics. You might not remember this, but when you were sick, I dug through the FutureGate mainframe and found the schematics to your cybernetics..."

"So?" Caleb asked.

"So I checked each and every inch of your skull implant and the one in your leg." Ember replied. "They're still identical to the schematics, which were signed by your mother and father, Caleb."

Ember fell silent and watched Caleb as he stared at her. The tension that then filled the air could be cut with a knife and Ember could see the mental debate he was having with himself.

"Why didn't you tell me before?" Caleb asked.

Ember sighed silently, she should have expected that question to come, but still it caught her off guard. She didn't know why she hadn't told Caleb before, it was probably because of the fact she didn't have an answer to that. Other than telling Caleb the whole truth about who Ember was to him, which was something that she couldn't do no matter what. But on the other hand, Tweaks was right, she couldn't keep protecting Caleb, he was a grown man, capable of making his own choices. She didn't have the right to keep things from him if it influenced him into making choices, especially because she'd been raised to believe that people should be allowed to make their own decisions.

"I didn't know how to tell you." Ember replied. "And you're not going to be happy with that, I know... but I really didn't know how to tell you everything..."

"And you didn't try." Caleb stated.

"No... I didn't..." Ember replied. "I was planning to tell you once we were back on FutureGate, but then everything within the Wolf Faction happened, and the whole thing with my infection... and I never got the chance... Caleb I'm sorry for not telling you, I really am... I know I should've but I was trying to protect you."

"Protect me from what?" Caleb asked.

"I wish I could give you a straight answer to that." Ember replied. "But honestly, I don't know what I was trying to protect you from... I guess I was... just... trying to protect you from all the bad things that happen... I realize I was wrong in doing that, you're a grown man capable of making your own decisions... and my actions are what got us to where are we are now... Caleb, I'm sorry for everything and if you hate me for what I did, I completely understand... you've got every right to..."

Ember sighed deeply as she climbed to her feet and walked away from the campfire to where she, Tweaks and Rory had left the jeep, feeling tears burning behind her eyes. By the time she reached the jeep, the tears had started to fall. Once she had reached it she kicked the front tire of it, just to let out all the pent up frustration and anger she was feeling. Ember wanted nothing more to just drive away from everything, but she couldn't... she'd just given Caleb the whole speech about how running away from your problems was the wrong thing to do and if she left herself, she would be nothing more than a coward...

Ember climbed into the driver's seat and rested her arms against the steering wheel before letting the sobs wash over her.

**Caleb's POV**

Caleb watched as Ruby walked away from the campfire before looking over at Tweaks and Rory, who were both looking at him with raised eyebrows.

"Well?" Rory asked.

"Well, what?" Caleb asked.

"Do you hate her or not?" Rory asked.

"Hate her?" Caleb repeated. "No, I don't hate Ruby... I'm angry yeah, but hate her..."

"Then go after her." Tweaks stated. "If you don't hate her, go after her and tell her."

"But she walked away..." Caleb said, not understanding what they were getting at. "Doesn't that mean that she wants to be alone?"

"Normally yes." Tweaks replied, getting to her feet and walking over to him. "But in this case, you've got to ignore that, so go after her."

Without another word, Tweaks pulled Caleb to his feet and pushed him over to the direction that Ruby had walked off in. Caleb turned back to look at Tweaks and Rory for a moment and both of them gestured for him to go on. Caleb sighed before going to follow Ruby.

It didn't take him that long to find her, she was sitting in the jeep behind the steering wheel, and for a moment Caleb thought that she was going to run away, but after everything she had told him, he doubted that she would. As Caleb came closer, he could see that Ruby had her arms rested on top of the steering wheel and her face rested on her arms. Her shoulders were shaking too, as if she was crying.

"Ruby?" Caleb asked as he walked around to the driver's side.

He watched as Ruby's shoulders froze and she straightened up. She looked around for a moment and when her eyes fell on Caleb, they widened. He could see that her eyes were looking puffy and were red around the edges, confirming Caleb's suspicion that she'd been crying. He recognized the way her eyes looked from when one of the younger recruits had gotten really homesick and the others had comforted the girl.

"Leave me alone." Ruby stated.

She climbed out of the jeep and started walking away from Caleb.

"Ruby, wait." Caleb said, grabbing hold of Ruby's arm to stop her.

"Let go." Ruby stated, trying to pull her arm free. "I want to be alone!"

"Ruby, listen to me." Caleb started.

"No, let go of me!" Ruby interrupted, still trying to pull her arm free. "I want to be alone!"

"Ruby, I don't hate you." Caleb stated.

Ruby stopped trying to pull her arm free of his grip and instead she stared at Caleb with wide eyes.

"You... you don't?" she slowly repeated. "After everything I did... I hit you..."

"I'm willing to forget that I you can." Caleb replied.

"No... I can't..." Ruby replied. "I hit you... I did the one thing I swore to myself I wouldn't do..."

"Which is?" Caleb asked calmly.

"Hurt you..." Ruby replied, looking down at the ground. "I swore to myself I wouldn't hurt you..."

"Ruby, I barely felt it." Caleb stated, smirking slightly. "My reaction was mostly shock than anything else."

"Caleb, I can't talk about this right now..." Ruby said as more tears fell down her face. "Please... let go."

"Ruby..." Caleb started.

"Please." Ruby replied. "Caleb, I just want to be alone for a while."

"Sorry, can't do that." Caleb smiled slightly. "I mean, you tried to help me more times that I can remember, you tried to protect me. Let me do the same for you, just this once."

Ruby stared at Caleb for a few moments and he could see that there were a million thoughts running through her mind. After a few moments, a fresh load of tears started to fall down her cheeks and as she started to sob, Ruby put her hands in front of her face. Caleb sighed before reaching out and hugging Ruby close to him. He felt Ruby pressing her face against his shoulder and her hands gripped the leather of his jacket in a vice like grip, as if she was scared that he was going to disappear.

"It's okay." Caleb whispered. "I'm here."

**Ember's POV **

Ember buried her face against Caleb's shoulder the second that she felt his arms coming around her. She couldn't believe that Caleb could just let things slide like this after everything, especially after her slapping him in the face. If it had been her who had gotten slapped, she wouldn't have just forgiven the person who'd hit her like that. She just couldn't understand how he could do that... then again, as she considered it, she realized that he probably hadn't gotten into a fight with anyone else before her.

"I'm so sorry." Ember cried. "I didn't mean any of it."

"I know." Caleb replied. "It's okay, just... just let it all out."

Ember shifted her arms until they were resting around his neck and buried her face against his shoulder again as she sobbed.

**And that's it for this chapter!**

**We're almost at the end for this one! just 3 more chapters to go!**

**I'm pretty excited about it:P.**

**Untill next time!**

**X Abby.**


	30. Chapter 30

**Hiya!**

**So here is the next installement, a bit sooner than expected right?:P**

**The next message is for reviewer Jacqueline: bedankt voor de reviews:) je Engels is lang zo slecht nog niet, sorry dat ik je aan het huilen heb gemaakt;). Als je wil mag je voortaan ook wel reviewen in het Nederlands (ik kom er zelf ook vandaan;))**

**Anyway, i hope you all enjoy the next chapter!:D**

**Chapter 30: Starting The Return Trip.**

It took a while for Ember to calm down, but when she had, she and Caleb walked back to the fire where Tweaks and Rory were sitting and waiting for them.

"You okay?" Tweaks asked.

"Yeah, we're fine." Caleb nodded, replying for the two of them.

"Yeah, we will be." Ember agreed.

"Alright, so seeing as you two are going to turn out just fine, what do we do next?" Rory asked.

"I think it's time we head home." Caleb remarked before glancing at Ember. "We finished our mission and we've got a lot more talking to do."

"Yeah, we do." Ember agreed. "Plus we've got to get you two back to your Factions."

"Let's go in the morning." Tweaks said. "We could all do with some sleep, plus if we start early, we'll be able to get Rory back to his faction by noon tomorrow."

"What about you?" Ember asked. "Don't you want to go home to check on your father?"

"Uh, Ruby, my faction is closer to us remember?" Rory remarked.

Ember shook her head as she retook her spot near the fire. She lay down in the grass and looked up at the stars as she heard the others getting comfortable around the fire. She couldn't believe that things had gone so fast when it came to apologizing to Caleb; she thought that it would take ages to get Caleb to listen to her. Ember folded an arm underneath her head and rested the other on her stomach before closing her eyes. She fell asleep with thoughts of how she was going to convince Caleb of the fact that he wasn't a monster lingering in her mind.

**Caleb's POV**

Along after the others had fallen asleep, Caleb was still looking up at the stars. He was glad that Ruby wasn't angry with him anymore but he still didn't believe her when she said that he wasn't a monster. Caleb sighed deeply seconds before Ruby started tossing and turning in her sleep. He got to his feet and walked over to Ruby, kneeling down beside her.

"No." Ruby moaned. "Upa, leave him alone... I'll kill you... I swear... I'll do it again, bastard..."

"Its okay, Ruby." Caleb whispered, putting his hand on her shoulder. "It's just a dream."

The second that he did, Ruby settled back into sleep again. Although when Caleb started moving to his own spot again, Ruby started to toss and turn again.

"Looks like I'm not going anywhere..." Caleb whispered to himself.

He lay down in the grass beside Ruby and as soon as he did, Ruby turned onto her side to face him. Before Caleb fully realized what had happened, Ruby had gripped his leather jacket into her hand and it was clear that she wasn't intending to let go at all.

"It's alright, Ruby, I'm not going anywhere." Caleb whispered as he put his arms around her and held her close.

With Ruby snuggling to his chest, Caleb closed his eyes and fell asleep.

**Ember's POV**

Ember woke up and the first thing she noticed that someone was tightly holding onto her. When she opened her eyes, she realized that it was Caleb and for a moment Ember wondered what had happened, before she realized that she'd had a nightmare.

"Oh god..." Ember whispered.

She carefully untangled herself from Caleb's grip so she wouldn't wake him and climbed to her feet. She did a quick check of whether Tweaks and Rory were still sleeping and when she found they were, she walked away from the campsite. She knew that she tended to talk in her sleep if she had a nightmare and she knew that had happened during the night too, which was the reason that Caleb had took a spot beside her.

"Oh god..." Ember repeated.

She had remembered exactly what her nightmare had been about. It was back on FutureGate and she was facing off with the Alien, Upa Gup, he had been threatening to kill Caleb. Ember didn't remember exactly what she told Upa, but she did know that it was to something to do with killing him. She really hoped that she hadn't said any of that out loud, because if she had, she was going to have a lot explaining to do.

Ember stopped at the jeep and pulled out her backpack from the back of it before starting to go through it to find that her food supplies were starting to run out.

"Bloody hell..." Ember sighed as she sat down on the ground against the rear tire of the jeep.

She lowered her head in her hands and sighed deeply before pulling her backpack towards her and pulling her jumpsuit from it. During the time that she had been taking care of her wound, she hadn't been wearing it as it pressed against the wound, but now that it was well on its way to healing, Ember felt that it was safe to wear it again. Once she was done changing into them, she climbed into the jeep and drove over to the campsite again so they could get moving. When she got back to the campsite, she found that the others had woken up too.

"Where were you?" Caleb asked.

"I was just picking up the jeep, and changing my clothes." Ember replied as she climbed out the vehicle. "I wouldn't just leave or anything."

"We gotta bring back this thing too." Rory said, pointing over his shoulder at the other car.

"That shouldn't be a problem." Ember replied as she picked up her battle vest. "We'll just pair up."

"Suggestions anyone?" Tweaks asked.

"I'll go with Tweaks." Rory said.

Ember raised her eyebrow at Rory for a moment before glancing over at Tweaks, who just shrugged.

"Okay..." Ember said slowly. "Well, let's go shall we?"

"Hey Ruby, channel 3." Rory called over before getting into the other car.

Ember climbed into the driver's seat and took the headset around of the dashboard. After fitting it around her ears, she adjusted the thin wire so it was sitting in front of her mouth properly. She tucked the transmitter box into the breast pocket of her vest after turning it to channel three.

"What's that?" Caleb asked as Ember started the car.

"Oh, it's a comm system we found in a military base." Ember replied. "We used it to communicate with Cybele."

"You talked to Cybele?" Caleb asked.

"Yeah." Ember replied. "Uh... I'm sorry; I had to tell her everything..."

"Oh..." Caleb said slowly. "Was she angry?"

"I don't know." Ember replied. "She was more like focused on trying to track you down."

Ember kept her eyes on the road so that it wouldn't be obvious she was lying. She didn't think that it was necessary for Caleb to know that Cybele was angry at her for not keeping her promise, and truth be told, she didn't know whether Cybele was angry with Caleb or not.

"How did you find me anyway?" Caleb asked. "I didn't think you would be able to find me."

"It was pure luck mostly." Ember replied. "As it turns out, the Roboid shot satellites up in space, they weren't deactivated yet, so we accessed them and managed to find you."

"Oh, alright." Caleb replied. "Ruby, you were having a nightmare last night."

"Was I?" Ember asked, acting surprised. "I don't remember what I dreamed."

"You were talking about someone called Upa." Caleb said. "You said you were going to kill him."

"Upa huh?" Ember asked.

"Do you know him?" Caleb asked.

"I used too." Ember replied.

"Used too?" Caleb repeated.

"Yeah." Ember nodded.

"Okay..." Caleb said slowly.

Ember sighed when she heard the unasked question in Caleb's voice. He wanted to know what she knew Upa from.

"Bugger..." Ember said softly before pulling the jeep over.

"Hey, what are you doing?" Tweaks' voice came over the comm as the car containing Rory and Tweaks went past them.

"It's alright, Tweaks." Ember replied. "You two keep moving, we'll catch up. There's some things we need to talk about."

"Alright, we'll pull over after the next ridge." Tweaks said.

"Okay." Ember replied.

She reached into her breast pocket and turned off the comm before turning to face Caleb.

"You want to know where I know this Upa from, don't you?" Ember asked.

"That would be nice." Caleb replied.

Ember sighed as she leaned back in her seat, wondering how she was possibly going to tell Caleb about what had happened.

"Upa was... he wasn't a good person." Ember replied. "I don't know how he ended up on FutureGate, but somehow he managed to deactivate your cybernetics and made you sick again."

"He did what?" Caleb asked.

"Yeah..." Ember replied. "I still don't know how he did it, but he wanted to force me to tell him where Cybele was... so that's why he did it."

"So what happened?" Caleb asked.

"I killed him." Ember replied.

"You did what?" Caleb exclaimed.

"Yeah..." Ember replied, looking away. "Remember when you pulled me out of the water?"

"Yeah." Caleb nodded. "So?"

"I killed Upa just moments before." Ember replied. "I drowned him."

"Why?" Caleb replied.

"After you called down that you'd get a rope or something, Upa pulled me back down under water." Ember replied. "It was kill or be killed..."

"Oh..." Caleb said slowly.

"So this is why I think you're not a monster." Ember replied. "Because there's a big difference when it comes to killing someone intentionally or in self-defence. I'm not saying that we did the right thing by killing Upa and Orion, I guess that there were different ways to deal with them, but I do know that if we hadn't killed them, we both would be dead right now."

"You think so?" Caleb asked.

"Yeah." Ember nodded. "I don't know what would've happened if we hadn't done what we did, but I do know that it doesn't make us monsters because we didn't intend to kill them."

"Oh..." Caleb said slowly. "You really think so?"

"Yes." Ember nodded. "We did what we did out of self defence."

"So... it's not because of my cybernetics that I killed?" Caleb asked. "I'm not a monster?"

"You're not a monster." Ember shook her head. "I never believed that you were."

"Thank you." Caleb said, smiling slightly.

"It's alright." Ember smiled as she flicked on the comm again. "That's what friends are for."

Ember started the car again and started driving after Tweaks and Rory, catching up with them when they got over the next ridge; they found that Tweaks and Rory were leaning against the car as Ember pulled up beside them.

"Finished talking?" Rory asked.

"Yeah." Caleb replied.

"Everything okay?" Tweaks asked.

Ember glanced over at Caleb for a moment and after the two of them exchanged a look, she turned back to look at Tweaks and gave her a smile.

"Yeah, everything is going to be okay." Ember replied.

"Good." Tweaks nodded, returning Ember's smile.

"So this means we can get moving, right?" Rory asked.

"Yeah, let's go." Caleb agreed.

Ember started the car again and waited for Tweaks and Rory got get back into their car before they started driving again.

By mid afternoon, they'd gotten back to Frankfurt and they came to a halt close to the hospital where they found Stu waiting for them. Rory had used his comm to let Stu know where to meet them and that they'd found Caleb before they had drove into the city.

"So you found him, huh?" Stu asked as the four of them climbed out of their cars.

"Looks like it doesn't it?" Rory remarked.

Ember raised an eyebrow at Rory as he walked over to his twin and the two of them exchanged a brotherly hug for a few seconds.

"Everything go okay?" Stu asked.

"Yeah, fine." Rory replied. "After Ruby started trusting me."

"Hey, you brought that down on yourself." Ember remarked, smirking slightly. "Remember? You made me take one of you along."

"She's got a point there." Stu remarked. "But hey, it was the right thing to do, I mean, you're fine, right?"

"Yup, completely healed. Well, just about." Ember nodded. "Guess that I should be thanking you for everything."

"Damn right you should." Rory smirked, which just got him a smack upside the head.

"Shut it, Rory." Stu stated.

"We should be going." Caleb remarked. "We've got a long road ahead back to... uh..."

"Utrecht." Both Tweaks and Ember replied.

"Yeah, he's right." Tweaks agreed. "We should get going."

"Yeah." Ember nodded before turning back to Rory and Stu. "Thanks for everything."

"Sure." Stu nodded.

"Yeah, it was... fun." Rory smirked.

Ember rolled her eyes at Rory before climbing back into the jeep with Caleb and Tweaks.

"We'll be in touch." Stu said.

"Yeah, we will." Caleb nodded.

Ember started the car and drove away from the twins. Even though Stu had said they'd be in touch, she doubted that she'd ever see the twins again. After all, in her own time frame, the pair of them wouldn't even be born yet.

**So, that's it for this chapter.**

**Rory's now back with his faction so that just leaves Tweaks:).**

**I hoped that you enjoyed this one!:D as always, let me know what you think!:D**

**X Abby**


	31. Chapter 31

**Hiya!**

**Finally time to update! Sorry, my life is a bit hectic at the moment so I can't update as often as I'd like. I promise I will attempt to keep a regulair schedule when it comes to posting.**

**Thank you so much for your reviews! Much appreciated guys! *hugs for all!***

**Message for Jacqueline: hey, heel erg bedankt voor je review! ****Misschien is het verstandig dat je een account aanmaakt hier op , op die manier kunnen we makkelijker communiceren in plaats van dat ik een A/N gebruik om met je te praten. en heel erg bedankt voor je suggestie voor het verhaal! helaas kan ik het niet gebruiken omdat ik alles al geplant heb hoe ik het verhaal wil laten lopen. (als je een account hebt dan kan ik je een PM sturen en een tipje van de sluier oplichten met wat ik van plan ben met dit verhaal;)) maar het idee is toch heel erg gewaardeerd! *Hug*.**

**Chapter 31: Saying Goodbye.**

It took 2 days to get back to Utrecht and by the time that they got to the Wolf Faction compound, the evening had started to fall. Ember heaved a sigh as she pulled the jeep over in front of the church. She'd done most of the driving to get back to Utrecht, sure she'd switched sometimes with Caleb and Tweaks to rest up, but as soon as she woke up, she was back to driving again.

"Why don't you two stay here for the night?" Tweaks suggested. "It's starting to get late."

"I don't think that's a good idea." Caleb shook his head.

"I'm not sure either..." Ember nodded. "But we could use a proper night's sleep in a proper bed..."

"I promise that nothing will happen." Tweaks said. "You two are heroes. Everyone knows what happened and they won't turn against you, I swear it."

Ember glanced at Caleb, waiting for him to make the first move and after a moment of silence, Caleb gave a quick nod that screamed insecurity. The three of them climbed out of the jeep and Ember reached into the back to grab her backpack before passing Caleb his. The two of them followed Tweaks into the church and they walked straight over to the entrance to the catacombs. As they stepped inside the catacombs, Ember was a little surprised when they didn't came across soldiers that were standing guard. They walked straight over to the map room and when they got there, they found Quinn leaning over a map with Fix standing beside him.

"Dad." Tweaks said,

Ember smiled as she watched Tweaks dropping her backpack and rushing over to her father, grabbing him into a tight hug when she'd reached him.

"Calm down, honey." Quinn laughed as he hugged his daughter. "I'm not completely healed yet."

"Are you okay?" Tweaks asked, letting go of her father as her look screamed worry when she gave him a once over.

"Yeah, I'm fine." Quinn nodded, giving his daughter a reassuring smile. "What about you?"

"I'm fine." Tweaks nodded. "Dad, they need a place to stay tonight."

Ember could feel Caleb tensing up beside her when Quinn looked over to them.

"It's alright." Ember said softly, giving Caleb's hand a reassuring squeeze. "Nothing will happen."

"Not so sure about that." Caleb whispered back as Quinn walked over to them.

"Caleb, Ruby, welcome back." Quinn said.

"Thank you." Ember nodded.

Ember glanced sideways at Caleb when he just gave a scoff in response.

"I should've expected that response." Quinn sighed, looking ashamed. "I should be apologizing for the way we treated you."

"Yes, you should." Caleb replied, crossing his arms over his chest.

"Hey, calm down." Ember said, putting her hand on Caleb's shoulder. "It's alright."

"We also owe both of you our thanks." Quinn continued. "Without you no-one would be here today."

"Well, our intention wasn't really on helping you out of a tricky situation." Ember admitted, feeling slightly ashamed of herself. "Our focus was kind of only on getting out of here; still, I'm glad everything is as it was. Tweaks has been a great help to us.

"I'm glad to hear that." Quinn said, giving his daughter an approving smile. "Still, you helped us none the less, which makes you welcome to stay here as long as you wish. As my guests."

"Thank you." Ember nodded before giving Caleb a nudge.

"Thanks." Caleb mumbled, still not looking comfortable.

"Come on, I'll show you to your room." Tweaks said.

Ember and Caleb followed Tweaks out of the map room and after a while, they came to a room that Ember recognized as being the room where 'brain-washed' people were allowed to stay.

"This brings back memories." Ember grimaced.

"Yeah, I know. Sorry about that." Tweaks nodded. "But this is the only place we have for you to stay right now, unless you want to stay in Orion's quarters."

"Hell no!" Ember exclaimed.

"No way." Caleb agreed.

"Then this is all we have available right now." Tweaks said.

"Well, there's enough beds here, so I'm not going to complain." Ember remarked as she dropped her backpack on the ground.

"Yeah, me neither." Caleb agreed.

"Well, I'll let you get some sleep then." Tweaks said as she turned to the door. "See you in the morning."

With that Tweaks left and Ember and Caleb started to get ready to get some sleep. The two of them pushed two beds together and climbed into them.

"Night." Ember said as she pulled the covers up over her shoulder.

"Sleep tight." Caleb replied.

Ember folded her arm underneath her pillow after turning her back on Caleb and closed her eyes.

It didn't take all that long for Ember to fall asleep, but it didn't last long. She woke up to feeling someone thrashing beside her and it took her a few moments to realize that it had to be Caleb.

"Crap, not again." Ember sighed as she turned around.

Caleb was indeed having a nightmare again, like she thought. For a split second, Ember got a flashback of the first time that Caleb had a nightmare, but those seemed like distant memories now. Ember sat up and grabbed hold of Caleb's arms, which had been punching at the air, trying to fight off an invisible enemy.

"Wake up!" Ember yelled. "Caleb, wake up!"

As soon as Ember had yelled his name, Caleb's eyes snapped open and he started to fight Ember harder than before as his eyes hadn't cleared up yet after waking up so abruptly. Seeing as Ember almost couldn't keep a hold of Caleb's arms, she decided it was better to just let go of them and as soon as she did, she almost got a punch in the face for it. Ember felt pretty shaken up when she noticed that Caleb had been trying to punch her with his cybernetic arm, she was extremely lucky that she'd been able to avoid it.

"Caleb! It's Ruby!" Ember yelled as she quickly jumped off the bed to be sure that she wasn't going to be punched.

Ember watched Caleb waking up properly, all the while trying to show that she hadn't been really shaken up by being almost hit by him.

"Ruby?" Caleb asked, his face screaming confusion as he looked around.

"Hey." Ember said as she sat back down on the bed. "Are you okay? It looked like you were having one hell of a nightmare."

"Yeah..." Caleb said, nodding slowly." Yeah, I'm fine."

"Are you sure?" Ember asked, putting her hand on Caleb's shoulder. "You look really shaken up."

"Yeah, I'm okay." Caleb replied, running a hand over his face. "Just memories."

"You dreamt about being locked up, didn't you?" Ember asked.

"Yeah." Caleb nodded. "I'm fine now."

"Are you sure?" Ember asked. "I mean..."

"Ruby, I'm okay." Caleb replied. "You don't have to worry so much about me, alright?"

"Suppose..." Ember said slowly. "I'm sorry, it's just... you know what, never mind. I suppose I'm just over reacting after everything that's happened."

"Don't worry about it." Caleb shrugged. "Let's just go back to sleep."

Ember nodded and lay back down again. She watched as Caleb lay down as well and turned his back on her. Despite the fact that Caleb didn't want her to worry about her, she couldn't help but do just that. It wasn't until Caleb fell asleep, that Ember closed her own eyes and let sleep was over her again. Ember sighed slightly before closing her eyes.

This time, both Caleb and Ember were able to sleep until morning without having to deal with nightmares or anything else. As Ember woke up, she found that Caleb was already out of bed, making her sit up as she noticed that he was digging through his backpack.

"Good morning." Caleb said as he noticed Ember was awake.

"Hey." Ember replied as she got to her feet. "God, I can't remember how long it's been since I slept in a proper bed."

"Tell me about it." Caleb replied as Ember stretched out. "I can't wait until we're home."

"Yeah, I know." Ember nodded. "With a little luck we should be home... uh, I mean back on FutureGate by late tomorrow night."

"That's brilliant news." Caleb grinned.

Ember couldn't help but smile at Caleb's enthusiasm at the prospect of being home. As soon as she was done stretching, Ember started digging through her backpack until she found her laptop so she could plan a direct route from Utrecht to Calais.

"So it's 341 KM back to Calais." Ember said as she put her laptop away. "I don't know how long it will take though. Normally it would be about... I think 5 hours to cover that distance? Still that's when you've got normal roads."

"As long as we get home, it's fine with me." Caleb stated.

"Yeah." Ember agreed. "So we better let Tweaks know we're leaving and stuff."

Both Ember and Caleb looked up when there was a knock on the door and for a moment Ember considered the possibility of Tweaks being psychic as she was the one who stepped into the room. It looked like she'd spend a lot of time in the shower as there wasn't a speck of dirt or grime on her. She was wearing a fresh set of clothing too and for a moment Ember longed to be back in 2010, wanting to take a long shower and have a fresh change of clothing too.

"Hey." Tweaks said as she stepped into the room. "Sleep well?"

"Yeah, fine." Caleb nodded.

"Yeah, you don't know how great it is to sleep in a proper bed." Ember agreed.

"I can imagine." Tweaks grinned. "So, what are you gonna do now?"

"We're going home." Caleb replied.

"Yeah." Ember agreed. "We're going back to FutureGate. We've worked through a few things so far, but there are still things that we need to talk about."

"Yeah, I know." Tweaks nodded. "Alright. Let's get you two ready to get back to FutureGate."

With that, Tweaks had meant that they were going to be given enough supplies, meaning mostly petrol, to be able to make it back to the spot where they had left their boat.

Maybe an hour later, Ember, Caleb, Tweaks, Quinn and a bunch of the soldiers who had fought during Orion's mutiny had gathered where the jeep had been parked. After Caleb and Ember had put their backpacks into the boot of the jeeps, they turned to the members of the Wolf faction to say their goodbyes.

"We really can't thank you enough for everything you did, Caleb." Quinn said to Caleb. "If you are ever in need of an ally, we'll be there."

"We'll see." Caleb replied shortly.

Ember sighed slightly as Quinn looked vaguely insulted by this as Caleb turned to Tweaks.

"Thanks for everything." Caleb said, holding out his hand to her.

"You're welcome." Tweaks replied, taking hold of Caleb's hand.

After the two of them shook hands for a moment, Caleb went over to the jeep and climbed into the passenger seat, clearly intending to wait there until Ember had said her goodbyes.

"Thanks for the supplies." Ember remarked as she held out a hand to Quinn.

"You're welcome." Quinn nodded with a slight smile. "It's the least we can do."

Ember nodded and turned to Tweaks, the two of them exchanged a look before they grabbed each other in a tight hug.

"Thank you for everything." Ember whispered.

"You're welcome." Tweaks whispered back.

"I'm going to tell him everything." Ember whispered quietly. "He'll need someone to fall back on after I'm gone. I know it's a lot to ask of you, but please, be there for him if he needs help..."

"You can count on me." Tweaks whispered.

"Thank you." Ember smiled as she let go of Tweaks.

After the two women had let go of each other, Ember climbed into the jeep and after giving Tweaks a grateful smile, she drove away from the church, blasting the horn a few times until they were out of sight.

It was the following day at noon that Caleb and Ember had reached Calais and stood on the beach where they'd left the boat. It was a clear, sunny day and in the distance, they could see the tiny pin prick that was FutureGate.

"Almost home." Caleb sighed in relief.

"Thank god for that..." Ember agreed as she pulled her backpack over her shoulders. "It'll be nice to be back on familiar ground. I've had enough of the mainland to last me a lifetime."

"Tell me about it." Caleb nodded in agreement.

The two of them stepped into the water and started wading over to the boat. After they'd climbed aboard, Ember went into the steering cabin to start up the engines while Caleb raised the anchor. It didn't take them that long to set sail towards FutureGate.

Maybe 2 to 3 hours later, the boat drifted into the inside docks at the aft part of FutureGate and after docking, both Caleb and Ember jumped down from the boat onto the docks.

"Finally home." Caleb sighed.

"Yeah." Ember nodded.

After exchanging a look, they walked straight over to the lair and after getting there, Ember dropped her backpack by the door before stretching out.

"God, it's good to be back." Ember sighed.

"Yeah, it is." Caleb grinned before turning serious again. "You know, now that we're back, I don't really know what to do..."

"It'll come back to you soon enough, you've been out of your usual routine for a while now." Ember replied. "For now tough, I think we need to go to Cybele."

"I don't really want to..." Caleb said slowly, clearly not looking thrilled at the prospect of facing Cybele.

"I know." Ember nodded, giving him a smile of sympathy. "But you're going to have to sooner or later. Tell you what, I'll go over to Cybele right now, there are things I have to talk about with her anyway. I'll make sure that she'll go easy on you when you go to speak with her."

"Are you sure?" Caleb asked.

"Yeah, I'm sure." Ember replied before smiling. "Why don't you go get some rest? You look about ready to fall over."

"I'm not tired." Caleb remarked before a yawn escaped him. "Okay, maybe I am..."

"Go on, go get some sleep." Ember smiled as she grabbed the shoulder bag from the table. "I'll go on a supply run while I'm at it."

Ember watched Caleb walking into the sleeping quarters before she left the lair and started to make her way down to the supplies room near the Cryo Freezing Lab. She figured that getting the food would be the best thing to do first. She knew that there was going to be a shouting match between her and the AI, well she thought that Cybele was going to do most of the shouting while she tried not to take things to personally, and she knew that if she got too riled up, she'd forget about getting supplies.

When Ember reached the storage room, she started to pack some food into the bag before making her way back to Cybele's hide out. When she got there, she dropped the bag of food at the doorway before jumping down the steps. The second that her feet hit the deck, Cybele appeared and just from looking at her glow, Ember could tell that Cybele was incredibly pissed off.

"Hey Cybele..." Ember said slowly.

"Ember, where is Caleb?" Cybele demanded.

"He's in the lair." Ember replied. "He's fine. With luck Caleb should be somewhere in Dreamland by now. It's been a long journey to get back here."

"Bring him here please." Cybele ordered.

"No." Ember replied firmly.

"Excuse me?" Cybele asked, sounding surprised that Ember disobeyed her order.

"I said, no." Ember said calmly as she crossed her arms over her chest. "Caleb is tired and he needs sleep. He will come to you as soon as he's rested enough."

"Don't you think you've done enough damage?" Cybele snapped. "You swore to me that you would keep my son safe and then you let him kill someone and run away."

"Don't you think I'd go back to fix that if I could?" Ember yelled. "I tried to keep him out of that fight, but the guy I was fighting was a lot better than me and there was no-one to help me! Do you really think I wanted Caleb to kill someone? That he would find out what it's like to carry that amount of guilt around with him? He ran away while I was unconscious because of the infection in my wound. I didn't know that he was going to do that!"

"You swore to me you would take care of him, Ember." Cybele said firmly, the disgust clear in her voice. "You broke that promise."

"It wasn't my fault!" Ember yelled. "Do you think that I wanted this to happen to him?"

"It doesn't matter." Cybele said sharply. "You swore you would take care of him."

"And I did!" Ember snapped. "God knows I tried stopping him from getting hurt! I tried to stop him from getting into that fight! And d'you know what? Me acting like the over concerned grandparent is what got us into this whole bloody mess in the first place! Because you made me promise I'd take care of him! I tried to take care of him so much that I ended up forgetting that he is a grown man capable of making his own choices and decisions! I never meant for this all to happen!"

"Well, it did." Cybele said sharply.

"Yeah, and I'm sorry that it did." Ember said bitterly.

Without another word, Ember walked back up the steps and as she reached the top step she turned back to look at Cybele, who to her surprise hadn't disappeared yet.

"I realize too well that this is my fault."Ember stated. "But I can't do this anymore; I can't keep lying to him about all this. I'm going to tell Caleb the truth. About everything."

"You can't do that." Cybele stated, sounding horrified at the statement.

"You bet your motherboard I can." Ember replied. "We're not being fair to Caleb. He's a grown man, and if there's one thing that I've learned from the mainland, it's that we can't keep treating him like a child."

With that, Ember left the hide out and grabbed the bag of the ground before walking back to the lair. The damage that was going to be done when she told Caleb the truth about everything would be irreversible, she knew this only too well. But she just couldn't stand the thought of having to tell him one more lie.

**So, that's it for chapter 31.**

**I will have chapter 32 up on Tuesday or Wednesday.**

**Please let me know what you think! Hope you enjoyed the chapter!**

**X Abby.**


	32. Chapter 32

**Hiya!**

**Sorry about the lateness, I didn't have the time to put this chapter through the final edit the last few days.**

**But still, never late than never right?:P thanks so much for the reviews!**

**Enjoy this one. :D**

**Chapter 32: The Final Goodbye.**

Ember walked back to the lair, all the while thinking how it wasn't fair that Cybele was blaming her for everything that had happened while she and Caleb were on the main land. She shook the thoughts off as she stepped into the lair; she knew that she had done the best she was capable off while on the main land, more than could be expected of her. Ember put the bag down on the table and sighed as she looked around the lair. She couldn't help but think that it was good to be on familiar ground even if she didn't belong in that time frame.

Ember walked over to the door of the sleeping quarters and opened it at a crack to check whether Caleb was really sleeping. After looking inside for a moment, it was clear to her that Caleb was in fact sleeping, he was even snoring slightly. To Ember that meant that he was in a deep sleep, giving her the opportunity to do exactly what she told Cybele.

She walked over to her backpack and pulled out her laptop as she intended to make a video message to tell Caleb the truth. She knew that his was a mean thing to do and she wanted nothing more than to tell him everything face to face, but she didn't want to put him through the pain of her leaving again while he knew the truth about her. This was her reason to tell Caleb everything in a video message, so that the emotional blow would be slightly less, or so she hoped.

Ember set up her laptop and sat down behind one of the desks before she started the recording.

"Hey Caleb." Ember started. "By the time you're watching this, I'll be back in my time frame. I'm so, so terribly sorry about this, but I couldn't bring myself to do this face to face."

Ember sighed deeply as she ran her hands over her face before she looked up at the webcam again.

"For these past weeks, I've been lying to you, Caleb." Ember said. "My name isn't Ruby. It's Ember Tennant. Everything you remember about me helping you defeat Arkon and Neuros, it's all true, I twisted some of the details around so it would make sense to you why I would still be on FutureGate after defeating them. The truth of the matter is that a week after defeating them, I went home to 2010. We kept in touch during the three months that I was in my own time, but I came back here after you told me something weird was going on. We didn't know it at first, but we found out that it was all because of an Alien, Upa Gup. I told you about him, he deactivated your cybernetics and this activated the sickness inside you, the one you were diagnosed with when you were 17. This wasn't the only thing that happened, because of the sickness, you lost your memories. Your memories of me."

Ember sighed deeply again and flicked her bangs out of her eyes. Stopping for a moment to listen whether Caleb had woken up again. When nothing happened, Ember turned back to the webcam again.

"We're more than just friends, Caleb." Ember said. "In the future, well, your past, I'm going to give birth to your father, Simeon Lansing, so basically I'll become your grandmother... we're family, Caleb. I wish I could've told you before, but I made an agreement not to do so, so my departure wouldn't hurt again. I'm so, so very sorry I didn't tell you this before. I felt that this was for the best, but I realize not that I don't have the right to keep this all from you. You're a grown man now; you're perfectly capable of making your own choices."

Ember removed the headset and transmission box before holding them both up to the webcam.

"If you need help, use this to contact Tweaks. She's willing to help you." Ember said before putting the headset aside. "I'll set it to the right channel for you. All you need to do is pressed the black button and the headset will activate, it'll connect to Tweaks' headset automatically. By now, you'll probably be wondering what the necklace that was hanging off the disk is. It's yours, Caleb. It used to be mine, until I gave it to you when I went home the first time. I told you that it brought me luck on more than one occasion; I still hope it'll do the same for you... I'm so sorry about all of this, Caleb. I hope that one day you can forgive me."

With that, Ember stopped recording and after looking around for a while, she found an old empty CD that wasn't too scratched up. She burned the message onto it before putting it into her backpack for safe keeping until it was time to go home. Ember walked into the sleeping quarters and found that Caleb was still sleeping peacefully in his bed space. After she'd pulled up a mattress beside Caleb's bed, Ember slipped off her boots and lay down to catch up on some well earned sleep herself.

To her, it didn't feel like that her sleep lasted all that long as she felt someone shaking at her shoulder.

"Five more minutes, mum." Ember groaned, starting to pull the pillow over her head.

"Uh, Ruby?" Caleb's voice asked. "I'm not your mother."

Ember opened her eyes and after they focused, she noticed that Caleb was crouching beside her.

"Caleb..." Ember said as she sat up. "Sorry, I forgot where I was, I guess..."

She rubbed her eyes for a moment before properly looking at Caleb to find that he was looking as if someone had just run over his favourite puppy.

"What is it?" Ember asked.

"I visited Cybele." Caleb replied, sitting down beside Ember.

"Oh..." Ember said slowly. "What did she say?"

"She was disappointed." Caleb replied. "Saying stuff like she never thought I'd kill a human..."

Ember sighed deeply as she wrapped an arm around Caleb's shoulders. She should've expected that something like this was going to happen.

"I'm sorry." Ember said. "But you know, Cybele thinks of you like a son, she's worried about you."

"Then why would she say that she's disappointed?" Caleb asked.

"I don't really have an answer to that..." Ember said slowly. "But I do know that parents always want the best for their children. I think Cybele is worried about you and what you went through after... well you know. She'll come around eventually, just give it time."

"You think so?" Caleb asked.

"Yes." Ember replied.

"Okay." Caleb replied, although he didn't look convinced.

"Come on, let's get some breakfast." Ember said, getting to her feet.

Ember walked out of the sleeping quarters and grabbed the bag with the food. After pulling out a few items, she handed them to Caleb, who had come up beside her.

"Ruby, when are you going home?" Caleb asked.

"I don't know." Ember replied. "I said that I wouldn't be gone longer than 2 weeks, but it's been... well, it's been longer than 2 weeks since I got here, so... hey, can you change the transmitter to 2 weeks after I left 2010?"

"Yeah, I could probably do that." Caleb nodded.

"Well, then I guess I could stay a while longer." Ember remarked.

That's what happened, Ember stayed for a few more days on FutureGate and during that time she talked to Caleb as much as she could about what happened on the main land without seeming pushy.

During those three days, she made sure that Caleb wouldn't be able to contact her once she was back in 2010. She wanted to stay in touch with him, but she felt that it was for the better if it didn't happen. She also made a program that would activate after she arrived safely in 2010, effectively deactivating it. After the three days were up, Ember packed her stuff and she and Caleb walked up to the command centre. She stood back as she watched Caleb putting in the date to which she would be sent back and after a few moments, he straightened up.

"So, I guess that this is it." Caleb said.

"Yeah." Ember replied. "It's been one hell of a trip..."

"Yeah, you're right." Caleb nodded.

Ember reached out and hugged Caleb tightly. While they were hugging, Ember took out the CD and slipped it.

"I'm going to miss you." Caleb said.

"I'll miss you too." Ember replied. "This has been an experience I'll never forget."

"Me neither." Caleb agreed as they let go of each other. "Thank you for everything."

"That's what friends are for." Ember smiled.

Ember stepped onto one of the platforms of the time portal and watched as Caleb walked over to the controls.

"See ya, Recruit." Caleb said.

"See ya, Resistance Leader." Ember replied, smiling slightly.

As Caleb pulled the controls towards him, Ember took a deep breath and prepared for the time jump. As Caleb pushed the lever away from him, green lightening started to surround Ember and she closed her eyes.

It didn't take more than a few moments, but to Ember it felt like an eternity for her feet to touch the ground again, although the impact of it threw Ember of her feet. Ember opened her eyes and saw that she was back on the playfield that she had left when Caleb had activated the time portal to get her to FutureGate.

Ember walked over to the nearest rubbish bin in the park and pulled out a newspaper. Her eyes immediately went to the date and she smiled when she saw that it was indeed 2 weeks after she left 2010. She glanced up when she heard the church bell and found that it was 4 in the afternoon, which meant that it would just be an hour before Rutger and his family would be back. Ember picked up her backpack and slung it onto her shoulders before starting to walk in the direction of Rutger's house.

By the time that Ember got to Rutger's house, she found that Rutger was already waiting for her at the front gates. Ember smiled and tore her backpack from her back, dropping it down on the ground before running over to Rutger. Rutger started to laugh as Ember threw her arms around his neck and held on tightly. Ember rested her head on Rutger's shoulder as he lifted her of her feet for a few moments before setting her down again.

"Miss me?" Rutger asked as Ember slowly let go of him.

"Yeah." Ember replied. "It's been a hard 2 weeks."

"I can tell." Rutger replied, brushing his fingers past her cheek and held them up for Ember to see that they were dirty. "Where did you go? The desert?"

"Something like that." Ember replied before kissing Rutger.

"Wow, you really did miss me, didn't you?" Rutger asked, pulling away.

"Yeah, I did." Ember replied, putting her hands on either side of his face. "It's been a weird trip."

"Want to talk about it?" Rutger asked.

"Mind if I take a shower first?" Ember asked.

"No, of course not." Rutger replied.

Ember watched as Rutger walked over to where her backpack had fallen to the ground and picked it up, slinging over his own shoulder before walking back to Ember. Ember smiled a little when Rutger wrapped his arm around her shoulders and together they walked inside the house and Rutger lead Ember up to his room. It was the first time that Ember had been in his room and she smiled when she saw that there was at least one poster of a scantily clad woman in his room.

"Uh... yeah... I forgot..." Rutger started to say.

"Rutger, don't worry about it." Ember replied. "It's normal for someone your age. Uh... can I maybe borrow a shirt? I used up all my clean ones on my trip."

"Yeah, sure." Rutger nodded before turning to his wardrobe.

Ember watched as Rutger pulled out a black long sleeved shirt which he passed over to her before Ember disappeared into the bathroom. She turned on the shower and after pulling of her clothes, Ember stepped underneath the shower, letting the hot water soothe her aching muscles.

After standing underneath the shower for a half hour and having washed properly, Ember stepped out underneath the shower and turned it off after wrapping a towel around herself.

"So you want to talk about what happened?" Rutger asked through the crack of the door.

"Give me a moment." Ember replied.

She quickly dried off and pulled on the set of underwear she'd put in the empty bag that she gave Rutger to hide before she slipped Rutger's shirt on. Seeing as Rutger was a lot taller than she was, his shirt fell down to her knees. Ember walked out of the bathroom to find Rutger sitting on his bed, clearly waiting for her to finish her shower.

Ember dug through her backpack for a moment and pulled out a relatively clean pair of jeans and slipped them on before joining Rutger on his bed. As Ember sat down beside him, Rutger wrapped his arms around.

"What happened?" Rutger asked. "You look troubled."

"I just had a rough trip." Ember replied.

"Tell me." Rutger said.

Ember sighed deeply and started to tell Rutger a twisted version of what had happened. He stayed silent all the way through, only from time to time to show that he was listening.

"So I lied to him." Ember started. "I thought I was doing the right thing, but that only ended up backfiring, so I told him everything."

"You did the right thing." Rutger reassured.

"I know..." Ember replied. "But it didn't feel like it..."

"I know, usually the right thing to do doesn't feel like it, but it is the right thing you did, Ember." Rutger said soothingly. "Your friend might not see it that way, but he will in time."

"I hope so." Ember replied, burying her face against Rutger's shoulder.

Both of them looked up when there was a knock on the door.

"Rutger, Amber, lunch is ready." Mrs. Lansing called.

"Her name's Ember, mam, not Amber." Rutger replied before turning to look at Ember. "You feel like having some lunch?"

"Not really." Ember shrugged. "You can eat if you want though."

"We're not hungry, mam!" Rutger called.

Ember rolled her eyes a little, she knew that Rutger was probably hungry but he didn't go down for lunch because she didn't want to eat.

After spending the evening there, Rutger took Ember home and even went as far as helping her take her bags up to her room. While in her room, Rutger talked about the trip he'd had with his parents and how they'd gone to New York. After Rutger had gone home however, Ember went online and posted a message on the KHB forums stating that she wasn't in touch with Caleb anymore because of things that had happened during her recent trip in 2110. She didn't go into detail about what happened though. After logging off, Ember lay down on her bed and stared at the ceiling, wondering what she was going to do now that she had severed ties with Caleb. She just hoped that he would be alright and that he would contact Tweaks to help him out.

Ember sighed as she got to her feet after thinking for a few moments and started getting to work in sorting out the stuff from her backpack, but she couldn't help but let her mind wander to what things were like for Caleb now.

**So, that's it for this chapter!**

**I should tell you that Rutger says Mam instead of Mum in the last conversation because he is from a Dutch family. Mam in Dutch is exactly the same as Mum in English.:) I figured that Rutger would speak English in front of Ember so she won't feel left out, but he wouldn't really change the way he addresses his mother. Hope this explains it:)**

**Well, this isn't only the end of this chapter, but the end of this story as well! Don't fret though; this isn't the end for Ember or Caleb. Their story will continue in the next instalment 'the Call of Destiny'.**

**I'll probably start posting the next story in two weeks time.**

**Thank you so much all of you for sticking by this story! :D**

**Until next time!**

**X Abby.**


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